Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP) for SMEs & Startups in Pakistan
Awards Ceremony – GCIP Pakistan 2016
Awards Ceremony – GCIP Pakistan 2016
1. Background The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the specialized agency of United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. The mandate of UNIDO is to promote and accelerate inclusive and sustainable industrial development in developing countries and economies in transition. Within this context, in 2011, the Government of South Africa, with the support of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and UNIDO, successfully implemented the ‘Greening the COP17’ project. One of the four components of the project focused on the design and implementation of the first South Africa Clean Technology Competition for green entrepreneurs and small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) with innovative ideas and concepts in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy and green building practices. This competition was a great success as it drew the interest of policy makers and private sector and uniquely interlinked the issues of employment, green growth, and the role of science and innovation in the area of clean technologies. Building on this success, and on the lessons learned, the GEF and UNIDO have agreed to develop a global flagship programme to promote Cleantech innovations and Cleantech entrepreneurs around the world. This is in line with the GEF Council’s Revised Strategy for Enhancing Engagement with the Private Sector, Modality 3, namely “SME Competition Pilot: Encouraging Entrepreneurs and Innovators,” which provides support to entrepreneurs and innovators seeking to establish commercial ventures in clean technologies. Given the significance and contribution of small businesses to the promotion of job creation and overall economic development of Pakistan, UNIDO has developed a GEF funded Cleantech Programme for SMEs and Startups in Pakistan, emphasizing the promotion of innovations in clean technologies. Supported by the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST), National Productivity Organization (NPO), and Pakistan Institute of Management (PIM), the project was approved by the GEF Secretariat in September 2013.
2. Concept – GCIP Pakistan The 'Global Cleantech Innovation Programme for SMEs and Start-ups' seeks to promote clean energy technology innovations through a cross-sectoral and multi-tiered approach that combines strengthening of the national technology innovation policy framework with institutional strengthening so as to build a sustainable “ecosystem” for innovative entrepreneurship in small businesses. The project focuses on fostering emerging clean energy technology start-ups in Pakistan, enhancing engagement with the private sector, scaling up the momentum for sustainable development and strengthening the policy framework as required. The project also employs a competition-based ecosystem approach to identify the most promising entrepreneurs across the country. A local business acceleration programme supports, promotes and “de-risks” the participating companies and connects them to potential investors, customers, and partners. An integral part of this project is strengthening the institutional infrastructure and capacity of local implementing partners, which are mainly government agencies, focused on fostering cleantech innovations. One of the components of the said programme is a global competition aimed at promotion of Innovations in the area of Clean Technologies. This competition is simultaneously been carried out now in twelve countries around the world, the main aim of this competition is to foster innovations in Renewable energy, Energy Efficiency, Water Efficiency, Waste to Energy and Green Building. The target market of Cleantech competition is SMEs and Startup companies. This programme involves extensive mentoring, training, access to investors and opportunities to showcase their innovations. Winners will be given prizes ranging from US$ 15,000 to 20,000 plus winners will be given further mentorship and training in Silicon Valley, USA”. Cleantech is basically a business accelerator programme which is aimed at converting the Cleantech ideas into viable businesses.
2.1.
Framework of Activities
Following are main components of programme.
Project Component 1 National Cleantech Platform (NCTP) to promote clean technology innovations and Competitiveness in SMEs in Pakistan to deliver global environmental benefits. Output: A coordination mechanism/ platform established at the national level to promote clean technology innovations and entrepreneurship; clean energy technology innovators identified, coached and supported during and beyond the Cleantech competition.
Project Component 2 Capacity enhancement initiative for clean technology innovations Output: National institutional capacity build for mentoring and training programmes as part of the competition and accelerator programme.
Project Component 3 Policy and regulatory framework strengthened for scaling up of Cleantech competition, innovations and acceleration activities across Pakistan Output: Policies and institutional framework strengthened to promote Cleantech innovations in SMEs and support the local innovation ecosystems in the country.
2.2.
Process of the GCIP Call for Awards
GCIP follows the following 8 step model to complete cycle of a GCIP call for awards every year: .
Activity 1 Applications are solicited from target market that is Startups and SMEs working or related to our thematic areas i.e. Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Waste to Energy, Water Efficiency and Green Building. A three month outreach activity is carried out, comprising of Seminars, Social Media, Print media, and other means of information dissemination. Target markets are technical universities, Chambers, research institutions etc. Applicants have to apply online at the online module only. Special emphasis is made on motivating more women to participate in this programme and many activities focusing on women were launched..
Activity 2 Semifinalists are announced after Round 1 Judging that is scrutiny of applications by a panel of 3 external and neutral judges. Semifinalists are the subject, for the purpose of all further activities.
Activity 3 National academy is held for semifinalist for training and improving their business plans, this activity is followed by Business Clinics. Which are meetings held with all semifinalists whereby the problems and issues in their business plan is discussed and suggestions are made on how to improve these.
Activity 4 Each Semifinalist is assigned two mentors i.e. Specialist (the subject expert) and Generalist (the business expert) plus an international mentor to guide them on international best practices. Simultaneously a series of webinars starts, these seminars are webcasted directly from Silicon Valley USA, for Semifinalist, it is an interactive session on 10 topics which are crucial business aspects for any startups.
Activity 5 Mock judging activity is preparation and improvement of teams for their final judging activity in which marks are not given but improvement is suggested in their final presentation as well as their technological innovation was vetted.
Activity 6 The final judging activity is carried out, where a panel of 5 external judges plus one international judge attended the final presentations and give their marks based on which the National Winner and Runner ups and Most Promising Women Led Team are decided.
Activity 7 Final gala event plus the award ceremony is held where the winners are officially announced.
Activity 8 Winners proceed to Silicon Valley, USA to attend the Global Forum and meet with the potential investors.
3. Process of Call for Awards 2016 –GCIP Pakistan GCIP Call for Awards was launched in March 2016 after an extensive advocacy campaign continued for around two and half months, this campaign comprised of field missions, seminars, skype sessions, radio and television programmes, newspaper adds, social media campaigns etc. In the field missions, focused meetings, orientation sessions and workshops were undertaken by the GCIP team during the period of February 2016 till June 2016. The overall goal of the field visits has been to fast-track the outreach campaign to encourage potential organizations, R&D institutes, industry and academia to subscribe to GCIP Accelerator Programme as applicant as well as mentors. The multiple field visits were conducted in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Topi, Chakwal etc. During each session the GCIP team explained the overall strategy of the accelerator programme for SMEs and Start-ups, the process of application, the procedures, categories as well as prizes. The field mission objectives and approach had been in line with the main concept of Cleantech i.e. to sensitize the general public as well as our target market about GCIP programme. As a result of this campaign and other activities, a total of 592 applications were received in the online application portal of CTO, USA. This number of applications was by the highest number of applications received in any GCIP country for the GCIP cycle 2016. All these applications were screened and evaluated by a panel of three independent external judges. And after two full days of judging activity, 82 teams were declared as semifinalist. These semi-finalists are the main subjects of the GCIP programme for the purpose of training and mentoring. Owing to the large number of semifinalists, the GCIP programme activities were planned to be held on regional basis, i.e. three regions of Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi. This means that instead of all semifinalists traveling to Islamabad, the GCIP team travelled to each region to undertake different steps of the cycle. The first activity after declaration of semifinalists, was the National Academy which was a two day academy held in each region, this academy was conducted online by Mr. Paul deGive, the International Trainer of Cleantech Open, San Francisco. The main purpose of this training was to train innovators on how to commercialize their innovation, as generally these innovators are technical persons and do not have expertise to commercialize their innovation. This academy focusses on telling them the contents of business model and Business Model Canvass esp. Oscar Wilder model, combined with CTO’s model comprising 20 points, right from how to commercialize the innovations to selecting the beach head segment to technology description to validation to linking with market etc.
After the National Academy, a series of webinars were arranged for the Semifinalist direct from Silicon Valley, USA. Semifinalists were supposed to attend these sessions on internet; they could ask questions and get answers as well as solicit technical advice from industry experts on how to commercialize their innovation. Simultaneously all the semi-finalist teams were assigned with mentors by the PMU Pakistan. Each team was assigned with two types of mentors i.e. Generalist and specialist; who for the period of around next two months guided the teams on improving their innovations as well as their business plan. After attending national academy and international webinars, the teams started working on their business plans. At this point, Business Clinics were organized in each region to discuss the issues faced by the teams during finalization of their business plans. Business Clinics invited external technical experts to resolve the specific issues of the teams as well as advice on commercialization potential of their specific innovations. The session facilitated experience sharing and cross learning through extensive interactions between the teams. Once Business plans were finalized and shared with the PMU, next activity was Mock Judging. As the name indicates, the activity is a mock event of the final judging, with the only difference that the panel of judges gives advice to improve the technology, business model and presentation instead of scoring. During the 2 day activity in each region, the judging panel pointed gaps, deficiencies/areas of improvement and shared tips on how to improve their pitching as well as presentation skills. As an outcome of judges response, some of the teams with similar ideas merged their startups and those seemed not mature enough were dropped from the list of finalists, supposed to appear in the final judging event. After such rigorous training and exercises, a list of 34 finalists was confirmed by the judges. The final judging activity took place in Islamabad and these 34 teams presented in the final judging activity to a panel of judges comprising of local and international judges. Each team presented a detailed presentation with Q&A session for 3 days from all regions. At the end, the panel of judges declared one national winner, 3 runners up and one most promising women led team as final winners of the cycle.
4. Awards Ceremony – GCIP Pakistan 2016 UNIDO Cleantech awards distribution ceremony for the GCIP Call for Awards 2016 was held in Islamabad on 12th January 2017. A total of five awards were given, comprising of 1 National Winner, 3 Runner ups, and 1 Most Promising Woman Led team awards to the innovators whose innovations focused on the five categories of renewable energy, energy efficiency, water efficiency, waste to energy and green buildings. The event comprised of the following two main sessions:
4.1.
Inaugural Session
The awards ceremony was inaugurated by Mr. Zahid Hamid, Federal Minister for Climate Change. Also present on the occasion were Dr. Anwar Hussain Gilani; Chairman PCST, Mr. Abdul Ghaffar Khattak; CEO National Productivity Organization, Mr. Esam Alqararah; UNIDO Representative; Mr. Alois Mhlanga; Project Manager from UNIDO HQ, and representatives of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Mr. Zahid Hamid, Federal Minister for Climate Change handed over prizes to five winners in a graceful ceremony. Speaking at the occasion, the Federal Minister Mr Zahid Hamid stressed the importance of innovation in clean technology in mitigating harmful impacts of Climate Change. The Minister specifically appreciated the role of the UNIDO and its partners in arranging this competition, to foster green entrepreneurship and introduce viable solutions to the current energy crisis in Pakistan. He reiterated his ministry’s continued support to this endeavor. He also gave shields to the Judges of GCIP programme and also to the Mentor Chairs. The Chairman of PCST, Prof. Dr. Anwar ul Hassan Gilani highlighted the role of PCST in supporting entrepreneurship in Pakistan particularly in clean technologies to ensure sustainability of the ongoing initiatives. He also reiterated possible role of PCST as hub of activities of National Cleantech Platform of UNIDO. CEO of National Productivity Organization, Mr. Abdul Ghaffar Khattak also spoke on the occasion and said that he is very happy to see that this kind of activities have started in Pakistan, and these would go a long way in helping developing a culture of entrepreneurship in Pakistan. The UNIDO Representative in Pakistan, Mr. Esam Alqararah, while addressing the ceremony, shared UNIDO’s vision on energy and environment and the efforts UNIDO in promoting renewable energy and clean technologies in Pakistan. Mr. Alqararah pinpointed the importance of renewable energy and energy efficiency in the development of the country. He reiterated UNIDO’s commitment to further strengthen the cooperation with the Ministry of Climate Change.
The GCIP Project Manager from UNIDO HQ Mr. Alois Mhlanga also highlighted the significance of innovations in Clean Technologies and appreciated the achievements of GCIP in Pakistan. He specifically stressed the prospects and need of sustainability of this programme through national partners in Pakistan
4.2.
Awards Distribution Session
After the inaugural session, the main session started with the distribution of shields to the following:
GCIP partners
All judges of the project
Mentor chairs in regions
All semi-finalist teams
Speakers of the event
Chief Guest
After shields distribution, 5 winners were honoured with the following 5 awards:
1) National Winner - USD 20, 000 2) Ist Runner up – USD 15,000 3) 2nd Runner up – USD 15,000 4) 3rd Runner up – USD 15,000 5) Most Promising Women led team – USD 15,000 All the winners were given huge life size cheques stating their prize money which was US$ 20,000 (National Winner) and US$ 15,000 (4 Runner-up Prizes), including a prize for the most promising woman-led business, with the opportunity to visit Silicon Valley, USA for further mentoring and training, as part of the awards package. The awards were given by Mr. Zahid Hamid, Federal Minister for Climate Change who stressed the importance of innovation in clean technology in mitigating harmful impacts of Climate Change. He also specifically appreciated the role of the UNIDO and its partners in arranging this competition, to foster green entrepreneurship and introduce viable solutions to the current energy crisis in Pakistan. And he also assured his ministry’s support for this project. While receiving the awards, all the winners described their innovation and its benefits, which was very much appreciated by the all the guests.
The winners’ details are as follows:
1) National Winner Category: Energy Efficiency Team name: SSUETIANS Innovation: A new technique which reduces the radiation dose provided in conventional C.T scans. So this innovation results in less radiations, thus less energy consumed and low chances of cancer.
2) 1st Runner up Category: Water Efficiency Team name: VegA's Innovation: A water waste flow mechanism that reduces pollution load by using energy from the flow of waste water; instead of using electricity for operating electro-mechanical, the water waste aeration system (surface/subsurface aerators) can be used in reducing the pollution load. So this innovatoin can treat industrial waste water without any external power source.
3) 2nd Runner up Award Category: Waste to Energy Team name: Green Team Innovation: Palletization technology provides easier and better handling of fuel after crushing and grinding. Pellets are made of biomass (rice husk, bagasse, cotton sticks and saw dust) and Municipal Solid Waste with differening ratios. So this innovation used Muncipal Solid wastes and convert them into briketts which can be used in boiler for burining, thus reducing waste and minizing use of coal for burning.
4) 3rd Runner up Award Category: Green Building Team name: HempCo Tagline: Indigenous Hemp as an Insulative Construction Material Innovation: HempCrete is a Carbon Negative, Enviromentally friendly and Breathable Construction material that aims to provide Cost effective Insulation to the masses. So this innovation used Hemp plants which are grown in marginalized land, and not of any use, and this innovation uses Hemp to
make insulation material for buildings construction which can result in around 70 % saving in airconditioning and heating costs.
5) Most Promising Women Lead Business Award Category: Energy Efficiency Team name: Innovative energy efficient incubating blanket for infant cure Innovation: A device named Incubating Blanket, which can replace the traditional incubator. It is an energy efficient device which works on 12V. Furthermore, this has more features than a typical incubtor. As the name indicates this incubator will look like a baby carry sleeping bag/blanket along with a kit having all the circuits. The data will be sent to incharge for Monitoring/Control. So this is an innovative design of baby incubator which is energy efficienct., cheap and portable, this innovation can save millions lives of children who die because of lack of incubators.
5. Outreach Representatives from UNIDO’s implementing partners for this particular programming namely Pakistan Council of Science and Technology (PCST), National Productivity Organization (NPO) and Pakistan Institute of Management (PIM) also participated in this event also with more than 250 high ranking officials and dignitaries, Ambassadors, international donor agencies, Rectors and Vice Chancellors of Universities, Representatives from government institutions including allied departments of MoCC, representatives from Industries, Investors, Ministry of Industries and production, Climate Change Division, Chambers of Commerce and industry and private sector stakeholders and GEF cell. A memorable group photo was taken with all the winners, semi-finalists, partners, chief guests. The event was reported by large number of electronic and print media as well as promoted on social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook. Moreover also featured in the UNIDO publications as well as various online and offline magazines.
6. Analysis and Recommendations The series of events reiterates that GCIP Pakistan is pursuing a multipronged approach, which starts from encouraging cleantech innovation through a call for awards and builds capacity of innovators once they are on board as semifinalists. The programme connects innovators with investors and mobilizes women to play an active role in innovating clean technologies. As facilitator, it provides them a platform for mutual learning, experience sharing, and establishing linkages with international mentors and Silicon Valley to develop business plans for commercializing their innovations. Experience reveals that innovators are not inclined to commercializing their innovation in Pakistan, being university students or scientists, such innovations are next step in their academic career and are mostly seen as an achievement in itself. In addition, a visible disconnect between academic and business sector does not let innovations to be mainstreamed in business sector as per specific requirements. Commercial innovations are therefore, hardly known or undertaken by the SME sector. The programme, so far, has been motivating innovators well to undertake innovations in clean technologies and develop a business model to commercialize the final product and identify the relevant market. However, experience shows that conversion of ideas into appropriate prototypes and prototypes into final product has another set of obstacles that offer numerous challenges to them. Firstly, the innovators need to be linked with a fully equipped incubation facility to get required facility of testing, certifications etc. along with the knowledge of relevant benchmarks and international standards in their respective areas. Secondly, Access to capital via bank loans and linkage with investors, such as angle investors, venture capitalists etc. are one of the major hurdles. They need capital as seed money to finalize the product as per commercial need and investment for mass production for the market. It is important to mention that both above mentioned support services are not part of the current programme but introduced on experimental basis to check the viability and productivity for strengthening the programme further. It has been noticed that both linkage with investors and SME sector for technical support has been taken very well by the innovators and should be part of phase II in an elaborated manner. The newly launched Industry Challenge Award can be considered as an additional initiative in this regard. The award is introduced for the first time in Pakistan, to be sponsored by a single industry or cluster of industries to solve their industry specific issues in an innovative way. The purpose is to
introduce a model to the private sector and pass on the responsibility of supporting such innovative cleantech ideas of innovators by the national institutions in a sustainable manner. For sustainability, the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and industry (ICCI) and other government organizations like PCST are taking proactive interest to run cleantech innovation awards in future. In this case, next phase of GCIP Pakistan should focus only on Industry Specific Challenge Awards, while regular call for awards should be outsourced to one of the capable partner organizations to follow the UNIDO model and run it in collaboration with PMU. Moreover, the next phase of GCIP Pakistan should focus on tailoring a more comprehensive and diverse package of the “Post completion services� including linkages with testing, marketing, taxation and IP services along with manufacturing/fabrication facilities. For ensuring women participation at all levels, some exclusive services such as, Women Business Growth Centers, as experimented in the current programme, should remain as one of the major focuses of the next phase.
Pictorial Highlights
Final Judging Round GCIP2016
UNIDO/GEF - GCIP Pakistan Awards Ceremony
Electronic Media Coverages
PTV news The news 92 channel
7News – Pakistan news
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esz_TyWzJ9s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJgVKFpDQ2A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HfgHACAQCk&t=56s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HfgHACAQCk&t=56s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFccEeMqJGc&t=311s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwD_2Xba-OI&t=2s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HfgHACAQCk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFccEeMqJGc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjZ5ar7fuIo&t=327s
E- News links
http://www.pakistanpoint.com/amp/en/pakistan/news/minister-forclean-technology-in-mitigating-h-89707.html http://www.dnd.com.pk/minister-for-clean-technology-in-mitigatingharmful-impacts-of-climate-change/122551 http://newsmakers.pk/unido-investor-connect-cleantech-innovatorssign-agreements-with-investors/ https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/178857-Pakistan-at-seventhamong-top-10-most-vulnerable-countries http://www.pakistanpoint.com/en/pakistan/news/minister-for-cleantechnology-in-mitigating-h-89707.html http://ppinewsagency.com/unido-announces-awards-for-cleantechinnovators-in-pakistan/ http://www.youthtimes.com.pk/unido-awards/ http://newsmakers.pk/unido-investor-connect-cleantech-innovatorssign-agreements-with-investors/ https://www.unido.org/news/press/clean-technology-inn.html http://www.jassimtaqui.com/2017/01/unido-investor-connect.html
ANNEX – 1
Speech of UR- UNIDO in Pakistan
Cleantech Awards Ceremony 2016
Hon’ble Mr. Zahid Hamid , Minister of Climate change, federal minister of Low Hon’able Dr. Gilani , Chairman PCST Excellences Ambassadors and diplomats, Presidents and Members of Chambers of Industry and Commerce, Head of UN agencies, Cleantech Judges, mentors; Semifinalists, Colleagues , Ladies and Gentleman,
This is very special evening FOR UNIDO…….and ,…..As we embark on the new year, we in UNIDO are very happy to have you with us celebrating the third round of UNIDO Cleantech Innovation Progamme . I feel, that the presence of your Excellency Mr. Zahid Hamid and such a distinguished gathering, has really added aroma to the flavor of this intellectual forum. …. This Cleantech Program has grown now and has come out of its stage of infancy and attained a level of maturity over the period of time and off course, today, you will witness by yourself that how constellations of innovators are qualified under the progamme year by year. Excellences ,Ladies and gentlemen, Let me begin with very short anecdotes
Asra, a young lady from Lahore equipped only with her innovative ideas, was almost shocked hearing her name announced by the jurist during last year’s similar gala event , to be the only woman among in the first five winners from over 450 contestants participated in UNIDO cleantech Innovation progamme when .
Asra won the prize building on her innovative idea of creating hybrid technology for running bicycle by using the energy generated during pedaling. Furthermore she presented her project in global competition at Silicon Valley in California last year.
Likewise, Faisal, from Gujralwalla, was the runner-up in the Global competition in Silicon Valley last year.
Faisal, a young dynamic engineer, came up with a novel idea of a gasifier, that runs on agricultural waste and he named it ‘Tawanai . The beauty of this device is that it can be mounted to a tractor,… operating in the field resulting in significant reduction in the consumption of fuel.
You must be fascinated to know that already more than five hundreds of these Tawani units have been fabricated locally in the industrial triangle of Pakistan, both for the local and foreign markets..
Likewise , Imran, one of the five winners, last year, has already attracted some private investors for his energy saving devise to the extent that he is now in the process to ink a business partnership agreement with Global Coca Cola Co.
And I can go on quoting similar success stories that this progamme has achieved during its two years of life. Last week we heard that one of the winners in the same UNIDO progamme implemented in Malaysia sold his innovation of a value of $35m to Samsung. …………..And now, we look forward for something revolutionary for Pakistan like Facebook, google, or something alike to be emerged out of this innovative progamme, a breakthrough that can create wealth, prosperity and thousands of jobs to this country.
Excellences, Ladies and gentlemen, Innovation… as we all understand … leads to economic growth and prosperity, Therefore owing to its immense importance Innovations has been clearly addressed in the SDGs as stand-alone goal, called SDG9 which is ; Industry , innovation and resilient infrastructure.
However, if you look to the Global innovation index for 2016 that has been issued recently, Pakistan unfortunately occupies almost the bottom of the list , in fact it is ranked # 122 out of 128 countries listed . It is a difficult fact to mention, but as a UN agency. we feel it is our role to ring the bell and to urge the Government to analyze the root causes and to design rational polices and take drastic actions to create a conducive environment that can lift innovation index of Pakistan and to enable such a great country to tap its huge potentials .
The great Arab philosopher Ibn Khaldoun said back in the 14th century, “ that the degree of human development in a society is measured by the scarcity of its poor and the social solidarity of its citizens.” But it is also true that poverty cannot be eradicated by solidarity and charity alone. It requires economic growth and creation of wealth which need all stakeholders to play their roles.
……… I am very pleased to mention that UNIDO has initiated some other activities in cooperation with our counterpart institutions to make this progamme sustainable in Pakistan, like the investor connect which we celebrated this afternoon/ It is the first ever kind of event for industries in Pakistan imitating the investor connect in silicon valley in California. …………Largely, the thrust of the investor connect forum is to commercialize the innovative ideas to achieve economic growth and eradicate poverty.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Today I also have to express my mixed feeling ……. That while I feel so happy seeing this event culminating so successfully , but. at the same time, Equally or more , I feel sad in announcing that this is going to be the last gala event of cleantech progamme that I am organizing with the UNIDO Team in Pakistan as I would be leaving this country in about three months’ time or so . .
Let me confess today ,, that though I have been hearing from my UN colleagues who left Pakistan that it was difficult for them to come to Pakistan for the first time ………but it was extremely more difficult for them to leave the country on the completion of their tenure. ………………. For me , it is more than that, I feel I am very much attached to this country now………….. so much so that ……… I feel ……….that a piece of my heart is lost somewhere here in Pakistan,……………… and don’t misunderstand me,,,,, not specifically by somebody………….. But in fact by the nation of Pakistan.
Let me conclude by thanking the honorable Minster for inaugurating this event and for his continuous support for UNIDO ,
Honorable Minister, you would be happy to know that this progamme is funded by GEF, one of the international funds that your Ministry is managing for Pakistan. The support of the Ministry is very much important for UNIDO so we give our deep gratitude to our long lasting relationship. I take this opportunity to express our appreciation to his excellency Mr. Syed Abu Ahmad Akif, Secretary of Climate change , the national focal point for GEF, and for the GEF cell to Fuad, and the whole GEF team for their valuable cooperation’s and support to UNIDO. And I would like to take this opportunity to request your further support for the second phase of this progamme, Cleantech II and for other UNODO new proposals targeting GEF new funding cycle. I also would like to thank our strategic Partners for Cleantech prorgamme in Pakistan– the PCST, PIM, NPO and Islamabad chamber of Industry and commerce for joining hands with UNIDO. I would like to congratulate the winners and wish them a success in up-scaling up their enterprises For all semifinalists I also would like to assure that UNIDO Pakistan will continue working with them providing our support to develop and accelerate your businesses. A social thanks is due to all mentor who provide their knowledge and experience to the semi-finalists on voluntary basis, I would like to register my vote of thanks to the distinguished judges who pursued their tasks with so dedication and utmost honesty, My distinguished colleague, Alois the Project Manager at the UNIDO HQ, who is the realMaestro, who orchestrates the whole progamme, , thank you very much ALOIS. I also would like to thank Paul, who has been traveling a long way from San Francisco for the third time to provide his experience as a trainer, and as international judge and to participate in this beautiful evening. I greatly appreciate the hard work and unique contribution of the UNIDO Pakistan team throughout the cycle of Cleantech, Shahina, the project Coordinator, Hammad, Talha, Zikrea, Hina, Faisal , who spare no efforts to make this event a reality, Thank all of you ladies and gentlemen for joining us today to celebrate this beautiful evening
ANNEX – 2
Speech Mr. Zahid Hamid , Minister of Climate change
Mr. Zahid Hamid, Federal Minister of Climate Change, Government of Pakistan On the occasion of Award Ceremony of GCIP Pakistan On 12th January, 2017 Marriott Hotel, Islamabad
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Mr. Esam Alqararah, UNIDO Representative in Pakistan Mr. Alois MHLANGA, Project Manager, UNIDO, Head office Respected Ambassadors and Representatives of UN Agencies Senior officers from MoCC, MoIP, and other ministries Semifinalist of Cleantech Pakistan
Distinguished Guests, participating teams, Ladies and Gentleman,
It gives me immense pleasure to be invited as chief guest of this august ceremony, in fact I am invited for second time to this Global Cleantech Innovation Programme for SMEs and Startups (GCIP) ceremony, firstly in 2014 and now today. In the last two years I had heard a lot about this programme and also about its success stories and I must say that it is a wonderful project as it is encouraging entrepreneurship, fostering innovation, and promoting Clean Technologies, which is the need of the hour.
Climatic change has become a huge problem, and this is not the problem of developed countries only, it is the problem of developing countries like Pakistan also. In fact the developing countries are more affected by the adverse effects of the Climatic Change. We all must do whatever we can at our level to reduce carbon emissions and do something positive for the environment. And I think this initiative of UNIDO in collaboration with PCST, PIM, and NPO, funded by GEF, is a continuation of the same spirit. As this programme is promoting innovations in Clean technologies in Pakistan with two throng approach, on one hand it will promote Entrepreneurship among the youth of the country and on the other hand it will also
give some respite to the biggest problem of this country i.e. energy shortage by encouraging renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, green building techniques. This Cleantech programme in Pakistan whose final awards ceremony is being celebrated today would greatly help in promoting clean energy technology innovation and entrepreneurship in SMEs and startups. A multi-tiered trans-sectoral and inter-disciplinary approach is necessary to build a sustainable innovation ecosystem that can facilitate and foster innovative energy solutions across the SME sector. I am glad to know that UNIDO GCIP programme is working in all the above dimensions. More over the introduction of new initiatives like Investor Connect would be very helpful in creating a culture of support to the innovations by the industry, that will go a long way in encouragement of innovations by the Academia, R&D organization, SME etc. as it would be patronage by industry. Similarly I must appreciate the UNIDO team in making this all process inclusive of participation of women at each level. I am happy to see the presence of many partners at today’s Gala Event who have shown the initiative and commitment to join hands and share their insight, vision and experiences on opportunities, challenges and best practices to promote cleantech initiatives in SME sectors in Pakistan.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Government of Pakistan in general and our ministry is particular always encourages all projects which are aimed at helping combat climate change, as we have firm believe that if we have to progress in this comity of nations, we have to encourage our people specially the young people to do innovations. We have also launched many projects related to Climate Change and we are hopeful that with our sincere efforts in combating adverse effects of Climatic effects, a positive change will be visible in the environment. My special thanks to the judges of the GCIP, whose contribution in making this programme relevant, aligned, impartial and successful is worthy. I would also like to congratulate all the winners, runners up and semifinalist in advance and hope that their ideas in the field of clean-technology will go a long way in the progress of Pakistan. Thank you.