Supervision of Predictive Analytics Lab project by planning commission through HEC

The Predictive Analytics Lab was approved by the planning commission on 2nd April 2018. A total sum of 81.24 M PKR have been allocated for the project in which 44.11 million PKR are allocated for SZABIST Islamabad, while 37.15 million PKR are for SZABIST Karachi. Predictive Analytics Lab granted to Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Technology (SZABIST), Islamabad Campus to target the healthcare domain. Predictive Analysis Lab (PAL) is to be established under the umbrella of the National Center of Big Data and Cloud Computing. SZABIST is amongst the 12 selected labs that have been awarded this project to provide healthcare analytics for the following five programs working currently under the supervision of Health Department Sindh.

  • Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI),
  • Mother, New born and Child Health (MNCH),
  • Lady Health Worker Program (LHW),
  • Nutrition Support Program (NSP),
  • Tuberculosis (TB) Program.

The major result of this task is that there is an enormous potential for editing costs and enhancing patient participation in addition to reducing wait times to attain health care facilities. Mainly there are four major goals of PAL that are enlarged at a lower place:

  • Building up Intelligent analytics for Healthcare,
  • Integrative Human Resource Capacity Building,
  • Developing Data Repositories,
  • Proving helpful analytics useful for decision making in Healthcare.

SZABIST PA Lab is meant to apply the high masses of data generated by above mentioned health care programs of Health, Department Sindh, Pakistan to improve healthcare quality and coordination with an increased focus on patient-centric care.

Smart Manufacturing Lab under the National Center for Big Data & Cloud Computing (NCBC) is being developed at SZABIST, Karachi. The objective of Smart Manufacturing lab is the seamless integration of everything in, and around a manufacturing operation i.e. suppliers, plants, distributors, and the products in the core concept of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are integrations of computation, networking, and physical processes. Embedded computers and networks monitor and control the physical processes, with feedback loops where physical processes affect computations and vice versa. This Lab will make use of internet of things (IOT) i.e. network of machines embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and connectivity which enables these things to connect and exchange data, thereby creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into computer-based systems, resulting in efficiency improvements, economic benefits, and reduced human exertions. Thus, this lab aims at building a laboratory of technology for development and testing of innovative technologies, methods and concepts for intelligent production throughout the product’s life cycle.

Objectives

  • Assisting local manufacturing industries in better understanding Industry 4.0.
  • Encouraging collaborations between industry and researchers.
  • Showcasing and implementing the research works at local industries.

a.    Pak-Turk Mobility Grant

Pak-Turk Researchers’ Mobility Grant Program is one of the upshot of Turkish-Pakistani cooperation within the scope of internationalization effort of higher education systems. It is implemented in Turkey by the Council of Higher Education (CoHE) and in Pakistan by the Higher Education Commission (HEC). The objective of this program is to develop new scientific and technological cooperation between Turkish and Pakistani higher education institutions by supporting the mobility of graduate students and academic staff. The program aims at provision of only mobility grant for any research project to be initiated at HEIs, supported by the own institution or by other donors. HEC and the Turk counterpart will provide funding for travel and living expenses to the researchers for their approved projects.

The priority areas in 2018 are; Energy Technologies; Food Technologies; Sustainable Environmental Technologies; Material Science; Smart Transportation Systems and  Robots and Smart Systems. The mobility grant was advertised by the HEC. The deadline to submit the proposals was 15th September 2018. Dr. Ahmad Hussain, Director ORIC have applied for a grant on the proposal titled “Coal combustion modelling using CFD techniques.”