Education minister Dipu Moni yesterday said that the right atmosphere is needed to inspire more researchers to explore new knowledge areas and bring changes to advance the country.

“It is the government’s responsibility to create a good atmosphere for research and we are trying our best to accomplish this,” she said at a report launching programme.

The Secondary and Higher Education Division under Ministry of Education launched the report on completed projects as part of their Grants for Advanced Research in Education programme.

Innovation is important for research. If our universities become centres of innovation, Bangladesh will progress fast, the minister added.

Secondary and Higher Education Division Secretary Sohorab Hossain at the programme said that government will increase budget for research.

“We need to build appropriate infrastructure at universities fruitful research work,” said the division’s Additional Secretary (University) Abdullah Al Hasan Chowdhury.

At the programme, officials said that a total of 485 research projects were undertaken and of them 229 were completed between 2008-09 to 2018-19 financial years.