Ahsan Iqbal seeks US academic partnerships in Boston

July 16, 2026 (MLN): Pakistan has sought strategic partnerships with leading American universities, research centres, and innovation institutions to strengthen its higher education, research, climate resilience, and innovation ecosystem, as the government looks to build a knowledge-based economy through global collaboration.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal held a series of high-level engagements in Boston, meeting academic leaders, researchers, and innovation experts at Boston University, the Harvard Kennedy School's Growth Lab, J-PAL, and the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) to explore cooperation in higher education, public policy, economic transformation, climate resilience, and technology commercialisation.

At Boston University, Ahsan Iqbal met Prof. Adil Najam and Vice President for Research Dr. Ken Lutchen to discuss expanding academic cooperation and strengthening Pakistan's human capital through advanced research partnerships.

He briefed the participants on the government's US-Pakistan Knowledge Corridor initiative, launched to enable 10,000 Pakistani scholars to pursue PhD studies at leading universities, and proposed a framework under which Pakistani doctoral researchers could conduct research at top American universities on Pakistan's priority development challenges, with institutions facilitating tuition support while Pakistan bears logistical expenses.

The proposal was welcomed, with both sides expressing interest in exploring the partnership further, APP reported.

Ahsan Iqbal said the strength of the United States lay in the strength of its universities, adding that Pakistan was committed to building a knowledge-based economy by investing in quality education, research, and innovation through partnerships with world-class institutions.

He also highlighted Pakistan's efforts to expand higher education enrolment, noting that the country was among the few nations co-financing the Fulbright scholarship programme, resulting in one of the largest cohorts of Pakistani students studying in the US, and stressed Pakistan's interest in learning from American universities about integrating artificial intelligence into higher education.

At Boston University's Institute for Global Sustainability and the Global Development Policy Center, the minister met Dr. Benjamin Sovacool and Dr. William Kring to discuss climate resilience, sustainable development, and research collaboration.

Highlighting Pakistan's vulnerability to climate change despite contributing less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, he recalled the devastating 2022 floods and underlined the need for research-driven adaptation strategies, inviting Boston University to collaborate with Pakistan on identifying climate vulnerabilities, strengthening biodiversity conservation, and promoting clean energy transition.

The discussions also explored institutional collaboration between the two Boston University centres and the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) to promote evidence-based policymaking on climate resilience.

At the Harvard Kennedy School's Growth Lab, Ahsan Iqbal invited the institution to partner with the government under the URAAN Pakistan initiative to develop a comprehensive growth strategy aimed at transforming Pakistan into a one-trillion-dollar economy by 2035.

Discussions focused on Pakistan's macroeconomic challenges, export competitiveness, fiscal reforms, industrial policy, trade strategy, and productivity enhancement, with the minister saying Pakistan was seeking practical policy recommendations and implementation support to strengthen exports and achieve the national target of increasing exports to $100bn by 2035.

He said Pakistan's next phase of growth must be driven by productivity, innovation, and exports, adding that the country sought partnerships that could help implement practical solutions for sustainable economic transformation.

During his visit to J-PAL, the global research centre jointly led by Harvard University and MIT, Ahsan Iqbal met Executive Director Iqbal Dhaliwal to discuss evidence-based policymaking and poverty reduction.

He shared the government's URAAN Pakistan framework, emphasising that investment in education, health, and population management remained central to improving human development outcomes, and proposed an independent evaluation of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to assess its effectiveness in helping beneficiaries graduate out of poverty.

Concluding his engagements, the minister visited the Cambridge Innovation Center and Venture Café, where he was briefed on one of the world's leading innovation ecosystems connecting startups, universities, investors, and industry, and expressed Pakistan's interest in developing similar ecosystems to promote entrepreneurship and technology commercialisation.

Ahsan Iqbal reaffirmed the government's commitment to strengthening partnerships with leading American academic and research institutions to build Pakistan's human capital and accelerate innovation under the vision of URAAN Pakistan.

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