World Bank delegates visit the innovation hub at UIU
United International University (UIU) proudly hosted a distinguished delegation from The World Bank on February 12, 2025 (Wednesday).
The delegates visited the university's futuristic and state-of-the-art innovation hub, which sets an example for other university innovation hubs around the country.
The delegation was led by Mr Martin Raiser, Regional Vice President of South Asia Region (SAR), The World Bank and Ms Gayle Martin, Country Director (Interim), Bangladesh and Bhutan, The World Bank. The delegation team also included Mr Mathew A. Verghis, Regional Director, Prosperity Practice Group; Mr Gabi George Afram, Finance, Competitiveness, and Investment (FCI), SAR. Mr Souleymane Coulibaly, Country Lead Economist and Program Leader, Prosperity; Ms. Hosna Ferdous Sumi, Sr. Private Sector Specialist, FCI, SAR.; Ms. Sophie Dong, Financial Sector Specialist, FCI, SAR; Ms. Georga Louise Mcnally, Jr. Professional Associate, SARVP Office, Ms Mehrin A. Mahbub, Senior External Affairs Officer, The World Bank and Mr. Md Faruk Hossain, Program Associate, Prosperity.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
During their short visit, the delegates discussed the condition of tech entrepreneurship in Bangladesh and the prospect of research to commercialisation endeavours. They also met with the selected student team and mentors from Launchpad by UIHP@UIU - an innovation cohort for young start-ups. The program was chaired by Prof. Abdullah Al-Mamun, Director - Institute of Research, Innovation, Incubation & Commercialisation (IRIIC), UIU and the delegates were warmly welcomed by Prof. Dr. Abul Kashem Mia - Vice-Chancellor, UIU.
Bangladesh Hi-tech Park Authority (BHTPA) runs the Innovation Hub under its University Innovation Hub Program (UIHP) to facilitate industry-academia collaboration on new ideas and start-up ventures. The UIU Innovation Hub is known as IRIIC. In this flagship initiative, research engineers are working on projects like Neuromarketing, Bangla Medical GPT, apps for Endometriosis screening, Breast Cancer Screening, Alzheimer's Screening, etc.
