Science
Nanotech’s role in socio-economic uplift of developing countries highlighted
By Naeem Ahmed •
Published on August 21, 2025
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Speakers emphasised the growing global focus on the cutting-edge discipline and its transformative impact across various sectors, particularly healthcare, while stressing the urgent need to expand industrial applications of nanotechnology to help improve the socio-economic conditions in developing countries.
Prof Muhammad Raza Shah, director of the ICCBS, chaired the concluding session at the Prof Salimuzzaman Siddiqui Auditorium.
The three-day event featured a series of brainstorming sessions and brought together a large number of scholars from Pakistan and abroad, including participants from Germany, the UK, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Thailand and Zimbabwe.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof Shah thanked both national and international experts for their valuable participation. He described nanotechnology as the leading and fastest-growing field of the 21st century, with immense potential for industrial applications in areas such as medicine, energy, space, nuclear science, textiles, cosmetics, paints and pharmaceuticals.
On the second day of the congress, scientists discussed the potential of nanotechnology to contribute directly to Pakistan’s national development, industrial growth and job creation.
In his plenary lecture, Prof Noor Muhammad Butt, former chairman of the National Commission on Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST), stated that the emerging field has a projected global market potential of USD 2–3 trillion, along with the creation of millions of jobs, as forecasted by the US National Science Foundation.
He highlighted that the establishment of NCNST between 2003 and 2008, along with the launch of a Bachelor of Science program in nanotechnology, enabled Pakistan to make significant progress in this area.
In healthcare, he noted, some of the most promising applications include the treatment of cancer and AIDS at the cellular level, without the harmful side effects of conventional chemotherapy on healthy cells.
He added that advanced countries are investing billions of dollars annually in nanotechnology for economic, strategic and public welfare purposes.
Dr Ahsan Habib from Bangladesh and Dr Veeranoot Nissapatorn from Thailand also delivered plenary lectures, along with other participating scholars.