Participants pose for the press after the event.
As part of its effort in promoting the growth of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) ecosystem in Nigeria, the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) is poised to establish Technology and Innovation hubs across the geopolitical Zones of the Country.
Speaking at a one day Stakeholders sensitization workshop and campaign organized by the Office for the South-East Zone, the Director General of NOTAP, Dr. Obiageli Amadiobi said that the aim of organizing the workshop was to interact intimately with the stakeholders in the south east on the functions and activities of the Office.
Dr. Amadiobi who was represented at the workshop by the HOD, Corporate Planning (CP) department of NOTAP, Mr. Emeka Orji, said that the workshop was designed to sustain and expand the impact and visibility of NOTAP’s programmes and activities in the South East Zone. “It is to facilitate the creation of the required awareness on activities of the Office and also to bridge the gap between the Office and the members of the public who were limited to interacting physically with the Office at the Abuja headquarters”.
She stated that the workshop will also afford the Office the Opportunity to harvest the diverse technology based operations and activities prominent in South East zone that are relevant to the mandate of the Office.
The DG further said that the Office is aware of the numerous numbers of educational institutions in the zone and Enugu State in particular, which according to her, is reputed to be blessed with a pool of knowledge institutions as the major bedrock for development.
The NOTAP boss noted that the South East Zonal Office is positioned to provide the required framework and platform to transform viable research efforts in the South East to products and services that are capable of addressing national needs. “These will be achieved through the various technology advisory and support services of the Office”.
According the DG, one of the specific areas that should be of interest to researchers in the Zone is the patent support services of NOTAP, which ensures that the intellectual capital of the South East researchers are protected through the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) framework and also facilitate the commercialization of the viable R&D results.
The Director General stated that as part of the incentives to researchers, NOTAP pays the Patent processing fees for the Nigerian inventors and innovations that submitted their patent application through NOTAP.
Amadiobi emphasized that the Office is also facilitating the growth of the Nigerian STI landscape through strategic partnerships with industry, under the NOTAP-Industry Technology Transfer Fellowship (NITTF) scheme. She said that through the partnership, industry players are providing scholarships to Nigerian researchers with Masters Degree to undertake PhD programmes on industry selected areas of need, in Nigerian universities. She added that under the partnership, 23 Nigerians have benefited and more applications are being processed.
In a Press statement signed by Mr. Raymond Onyenezi Ogbu of the Public Relations and Protocol Unit of the Office, the DG further stated that the industry partnership has also given rise to the upgrading of research laboratories in 10 Nigerian knowledge institutions through a program termed “NOTAP-Industry Research Laboratory Upgrade (NIRLUP). This effort according her, has transformed these research laboratories to state-of-the-art facilities.
She reiterated that the twin effect of generating a pool of highly skilled researchers with industry experience and the emergence of state of the art laboratory is already impacting on the quality of research and increased number of patents generated within a space of time.
Dr. Amadiobi informed the gathering that through the same industry partnership, NOTAP is driving the establishment of a pilot tech hub at NOTAP head office in Abuja, with the second one projected to be hosted in Enugu, the capital of the South East Zone. She added that the project, known as “NOTAP Project NOVA” is meant to develop a pool of tech enthusiastic youth who will be trained by experts from the industry and will be outsourced to provide tech solutions to the various sectors of the Nigerian economy.
According to the DG, NOTAP is looking forward to more partnerships with industry to escalate the impact on national development through the STI ecosystem. She expressed confidence that the workshop will provide participants with valuable insights and skills that can be applied for technology acquisition, promotion and commercialization.
The DG therefore encouraged all researchers and stakeholders from South East Zone to take advantage of the Zonal Office located in Enugu State Secretariat, News Market to ensure their inventions and innovations are patented to avoid infringement.
In his good will massage, the Director of the Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office (IPTTO), Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Prof. Chinedu Aguba expressed delight on the efforts of NOTAP towards a sustainable national economic development.
He said that NOTAP intervention in the Nigerian knowledge institutions have been unparallel and called on other regulatory bodies to emulate the Office to build a nation that we shall be proud off. He promised to escalate what he had learnt through the workshop in his University to encourage market and demand-driven research.
