DICE Energy & Water Conference was arranged at NED University of Engineering & Technology on October 10-11, 2018.
DICE Energy & Water 2018 event was a joint collaborative event of the DICE Foundation and NED University of Engineering & Technology Karachi to foster innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship culture in the country on Energy, Water and its related themes. The event included Students Innovation Exhibition, Industrial Exhibition, Symposium and Tameer DICE Shark meant to present innovative projects in front of Industrialists, CEOs and Venture Capitalists), and National Innovation Basket (NIB). The event had Rs.250,000/- as prize money for innovative students projects in the competition. The huddle provided an opportunity for academia and the industry to share innovative ideas and solutions to address the current energy scenario.
Major objectives of DICE Energy platform were to grow indigenous energy industry in Pakistan by providing a common platform for Academia, Energy Industry, Government and Expatriates to promote and collaborate on innovations related to energy sector, commercialization of innovations, energy engineering capacity building leveraging knowledge of expatriates around the world, providing access to Pakistan energy industry to international markets leveraging extensive expatriate network and to help Government of Pakistan in energy policymaking.
Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh, Sindh Minister for Energy, Dr Sarosh Hasmat Lodi, the Vice Chancellor, NED and Dr Khurshid Qureshi, Chairman & Founder of DICE Foundation USA inaugurated the event. Many esteemed guests from industry and academia also attended the inauguration. Of 120 projects submitted by various universities of Pakistan, a total of 40 projects were put on display of which 15 projects were selected by a panel of judges as the topmost projects for Tameer DICE Shark. Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh shared information with the participants as regards his ministry’s projects designed to solve the current Energy and Water crises in the province. He highlighted the issue of shortage of water in Thar, interior Sindh and Karachi and emphasized the importance of dealing this problem with utmost priority. He said Sindh government was not against building dames but they should be built with a mutual consensus of all provinces. He invited NED University of Engineering & Technology to work together with the Sindh government to solve the Energy/water crises.
Dr Sarosh Hasmat Lodi informed that NED University has continuously been focusing on the promotion of research and accordingly providing facilities to the faculty and students relating to energy research. He also highlighted that the University has played a vital role in promoting and working for the development of renewable energy sources and methods. He added that NED-DICE Energy Innovation Center provides a platform to the students studying in any university to carry out research work in this Center and also emphasized research work needed for Battery in future. This national exhibition brought together renowned professors, scholars, industrial professionals and DICE representatives all around the world. They shared their research involving generation and distribution of energy also how it could be applied to make Pakistan an energy efficient country with increased economic growth. It was also agreed upon that further initiative must be taken to explore safe and renewable energy resources for future generations. It was further extended to ensure that undergraduate and post-graduate students should be provided platform, initiatives and funding to ensure a continuous research on industrial issues relating to energy.
