Balamand Innovation Center Launching Ceremony

30 October 2025

President Elias L. Warrak

​Speech

At the Balamand Innovation Center Launching Ceremony

30 October 2025

Zakhem Auditorium
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Excellencies,

Distinguished Guests,

Colleagues, Partners, and Friends,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure to join you today for this milestone event and remarkable occasion — the official launching ceremony of the  Balamand–BIAT Innovation Center (BIC).

This event celebrates a meaningful partnership between the  University of Balamand and the  (BIAT), founded on a shared commitment to  innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development in Lebanon.

Once again, it is another proof of resilience in the face of adversity. Despite the ongoing and ever-evolving challenges that our nation endures, Lebanese entrepreneurs continue to innovate, transforming challenges into opportunities.

Today’s event marks a  significant milestone in the ongoing journey of the University of Balamand to strengthen the bridge between academia, industry, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. we have always strived to make education a platform for  creativity, and innovation. In this era of economic uncertainty, and global competition, universities must go beyond traditional teaching of what is already known to  inspire students to explore what is possible.

Universities must play a vital role in enhancing this mindset through:
  • Hands-on learning  that transforms theory into practice;
  • Incubators and innovation labs  that allow ideas to grow;
  • Partnerships with industry  that expose students to real-world challenges and inspire creative solutions.
The  Balamand–BIAT Innovation Center will serve as a dynamic hub  where innovation meets opportunity — a place where students, researchers, and entrepreneurs collaborate to transform academic research into market-ready products, to launch startups, and to generate sustainable growth for North Lebanon and beyond.

Together, we aim to nurture ideas and turn them into realities — realities that create jobs, attract investment, and strengthen our economy. In doing so, we will fulfill our shared mission of serving our community and contributing to Lebanon’s sustainable development.

This collaboration reaffirms our belief that Lebanon’s true asset is its people.

Together, we can cultivate a generation of innovators and enhance the fundamentals of resilience and the foundations of hope.

At the university of Balamand we will always foster knowledge to become action, and dreams to become enterprises.

We will shape a generation of entrepreneurs who dare to dream of a better Lebanon — and who have the courage and the skill to turn that dream into reality.

Thank you.

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