Dr. Bilal Mirza is entrepreneurship, innovation and public policy academician in Pakistan with PhD in Innovation and Development (2012) from UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, the Netherlands as a United Nations University (UNU) Scholar. Earlier, Dr. Bilal did his Masters (M.S.) degree in Management of Technology (Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management 2004) from the prestigious Swiss university, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL/ETHL), in 2004 and MBA from University Institute of Management Sciences (UIMS-UAAR) in Rawalpindi, Pakistan in 2001. Dr. Bilal is also a recipient of several grants, including United Nations University scholarship for his PhD studies, UNU fieldwork support, Higher Education Commission (HEC) grant as a researcher, and UNU grant for innovation policy training, among others.
Since 2004, Dr. Bilal has also been involved in several trainings at the UNU office in the Netherlands, covering domain of innovation policy design and evaluation in developing countries. Previously, he was affiliated with the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) (2004-2006), the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), at the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) Islamabad (2013-2015) and the Ghulam Ishaq Khan (GIK) Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Swabi (2011-2012). Dr. Bilal has conducted several trainings for policy makers and researchers, including at CPS, COMSATS, the OIC (Organization for Islamic Cooperation) Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH), Pakistan Council of Science and Technology (PCST), Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), the National Rural Support Program (NRSP, Pakistan) among several others. Dr. Bilal also has several international research papers to credit and has frequently given several talks and seminars in Pakistan and at international events in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, Thailand, and Malaysia.
Dr. Bilal Mirza has served as the Head of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Division at UCP Business School (Lahore) as well as has served as the Founding Director ORIC (Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization) at the University of Central Punjab. He was also actively involved in PKR 40 million project, Takhleeq – the UCP Business Incubation Centre’s strategic planning and later its successful execution.
He has also taught at Department of Public Policy subjects at Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (www.pide.org.pk) and Riphah Institute of Public Policy at Riphah International University (www.riphah.edu.pk). He is member of the Board of Studies of University of Management & Technology Lahore, Riphah Institute of Public Policy (RIPP) and Iqra University. Dr. Bilal has supervised several MS students in the past, and at present, is supervising 6 PhD students, several MS students, locally and internationally.
On corporate front, Dr. Bilal is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Startup Academy Pakistan (www.startupacademy.pk) and have conducted several entrepreneurship mindset and capacity building trainings at national level. Moreover, Dr. Bilal has also founded GERMINOX Ltd. – a British company that sells lighting equipment and appliances at several international platforms including Amazon (UK, CA, USA) and Walmart USA.