DHAKA, April 18, 2023 (BSS) - The government, as part of building an 
innovative nation as envisaged in the 'Smart Bangladesh' vision, is going to 
set up Research and Innovation Centers (RICs) in the country's 10 public 
universities.

The World Bank (WB) financed Enhancing Digital Government and Economy (EDGE) 
Project of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) of ICT Division in consultation 
with the universities has selected the 10 universities, including BUET and 
Sher-e-Bangla Agriculture University, to finance for setting up the RICs, 
said a media release here today. 

Informing these at a workshop titled: "Designing Research and Innovation 
Center for Smart Bangladesh" held on Monday at the auditorium of EDGE project 
at Mirpur with the Project Director Dr Muhammed Mehedi Hassan in the chair.

Co-Team Leader of EDGE project Faruq Ahmed Jewel said the government is going 
to set up RICs especially on frontier technologies, including nano, agro and 
bio-technologies.

"The RICs would make possible for the youths to solve various problems of 
government and industry through Research and Development (R&D) as well as 
develop startups and generate Intellectual property of patents," he said, 
adding that these RICs will be used not only research and innovation, but 
also provide training to the youths on advanced technologies.

Chairman of Department of Metrology of Dhaka University (DU) Professor Dr 
Towhida Rashid, Prof and Director of IIT of DU Dr Mohammed Shaiful Alam Khan, 
Instructor of MIST Md Mokhlesur Rahman, Prof of Sher-e-Bangla Agriculture 
University Dr Abul Hasnat M Solaiman, Head of Corporate Affairs of Rana Group 
Aminur Rahman, CEO of Farming Future BD Arif Hossain spoke, among others, at 
the function.

Dr. Mehedi stressed on changing mindset of academia to develop culture of 
research and innovation, saying that the government alone cannot develop this 
culture.

The academia and industry should come up with zeal to build an innovative 
nation by 2041 as described in the Smart Bangladesh vision, he said, adding: 
"More initiatives including establishing Smart Digital Leadership Academy 
(SDLA), Center for Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) have been undertaken 
by the EDGE project to help carry forward Bangladesh's journey towards Smart 
Bangladesh."