Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the country’s first campus-based business incubator ‘Sheikh Kamal IT Business Incubator’ at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) on Wednesday.
CUET Assistant Director (Public Relations) Muhammad Rashedul Islam said the PM is expected to inaugurate the Sheikh Kamal IT Business Incubator, Sheikh Jamal Dormitory and Rosy Jamal Dormitory by joining online from her official residence Ganobhaban.
PM’s ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy will also be present on the occasion while State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak will deliver the welcome speech.
Read: Hi-Tech Park to turn Khulna industrial area into tech-based zone: Palak
CUET Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Mohammad Rafiqul Alam said CUET is the first university to set up Sheikh Kamal IT Business Incubator in the country with an aim to establish successful entrepreneurs in the IT sector, encourage research and innovation at the university level and enrich the industry-academia collaboration as well as unleash Bangladesh's global opportunities in the IT sector.
At the same time, it will play a role in building a 'smart Bangladesh' by 2041 by creating skilled graduates in the IT sector to meet the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, he added.
Under the Sheikh Kamal IT Business Incubator project at a cost of Tk 117 crore, a 10-storey incubation building comprising 50,000 square feet and a 6-storey multipurpose training building of 36,000 square feet have been constructed on five acres of land in CUET campus.
There are Startup Zone, Idea / Innovation Zone, Industry-Academic Zone, Brainstorming Zone, E-Library, Data Center, Research Lab, Bangabandhu Corner, Exhibition Center, Video Conferencing Room, Meeting Room inside the Incubation building. There is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) lab, a machine learning lab, a big data lab, an optical fiber backbone, a sub-station and a solar panel to facilitate the work of entrepreneurs and researchers.
There are also separate corners for banks and IT firms, state-of-the-art cyber cafes, food courts, cafeterias, recreation zones, maker spaces, display zones, press or media coverage zones, own parking facilities, etc.
Read: Palak asks youths to be self-employed in IT sector
Besides, the multipurpose training building has a well-equipped auditorium with a capacity of 250 people and eight separate computer lab cum seminar rooms with a capacity of 30 people. Two separate four-storey dormitory buildings (each for female and male) on an area of 20,000 square feet have been constructed. Each dormitory has 40 rooms. A state-of-the-art research lab with two mini supercomputers will also be set up soon.
Apart from CUET VC, ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury, MP from Chattogram-6 (Raozan) constituency, Chattogram Divisional Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner, CUET teachers, officials and students will join the inauguration programme from CUET end.