The Competitiveness Support Fund is based on international best practices (India, Thailand, Turkey, Ireland, Finland etc.) to strengthen and make the private sector more competitive and to improve the policy framework needed for innovation-based competitiveness. The Competitiveness Support Fund is supporting Pakistan’s goal of a more competitive economy by providing input into policy decisions, working to improve regulatory and administrative frameworks and enhancing public-private partnerships within the country. The CSF is also providing technical assistance and co-financing for initiatives related to entrepreneurship, business incubators and private-sector led initiatives with research institutes and universities that contribute to creating a knowledge-driven economy. CSF activities are helping all producers along the value chain that contribute to ultimate product quality. By obtaining better value and better prices for quality products, and improving cooperation throughout the Pakistani economy, the CSF is contributing to poverty alleviation by providing more income for producers and better employment prospects for employees.

The CSF has been benchmarked against similar funds that are operating in the countries mentioned above and has been tailored to the current Pakistani economic environment.

Through the operations of the CSF, the private sector, the Government of Pakistan, research institutions and international donors is supporting enterprise development, new start-ups and sectors that have potential to grow by enabling them to compete more effectively and thus:

• Improve the performance of the Pakistan’s economy and help expand gross domestic product.
• Develop small and medium-sized subcontractors and link them to large manufacturers.
• Extend the use of research and development results, patents and know-how in enterprises, ventures and promote the establishment of business incubator programmes.
• Enhance the quality of industrial services to increase their impact on production, creation of better jobs and overall development of manufacturing businesses in Pakistan.
• Promote venture capital and encourage business incubation programmes.
• Support the creation of an improved policy framework needed for a viable competitive business environment.

The Fund has become one of the key instruments in Pakistan to support

(i) the development of innovation systems; 
(ii) upgradation of enterprises’ competitiveness; 
(iii) start-ups that have completed the business incubation process; 
(iv) commercialization of the results of research; 
(v) pilot projects that demonstrate the impact of better strategy; 
(vi) competitive enterprises that have potential for increasing a sector’s domestic market and export; and 
(vii) close cooperation with Stanford University for journalists training to increase public focus on innovation and competitiveness through news and improving communication within and across the sector.

In this way, the Fund is contributing to promoting and speeding up the process of bridging existing competitiveness gaps and catching-up to successful developing economies and more advanced countries in the region.