The National Incubation Center at LUMS (“NICL”) aims to bolster the start-up ecosystem of Pakistan by incubating a greater percentage of start-ups that survive and scale to address a large commercial opportunity and attract investment capital for growth. NIC accomplishes this by: a) Facilitating problem solvers in high impact areas for Pakistan: 1) Agriculture (AgriTech), 2) Education (EdTech), 3) Environment (CleanTech), 4) Financial Inclusion (FinTech), 5) Healthcare & Lifesciences (HealthTech), and 6) applications utilizing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning; b) Upskilling talent through its rigorous applied entrepreneurship Foundation Program, developed and delivered by LUMS faculty and international experts, under the patronage of NICL Foundation Council comprising of role model entrepreneurs and venture capitalists; c) Inspiring start-up founders through its Entrepreneur in Conversation series and providing on-going mentorship via successful LUMS alumni, with subject matter or functional expertise; and d) Enabling access to global investors. With LUMS at its epicentre, and support of Ignite, Ministry of Information, Technology and Telecom, and Fatima Ventures, NICL fosters a start-up mindset by creating an innovation district to unleash invention and entrepreneurial talent that solves big problems, and serve as a collaboration platform between industry and applied academic research. In addition to its incubation and acceleration programs, NICL supports economic development by providing tools, skills and market access to marginalized communities, especially youth and women in tertiary cities of Pakistan.