By Victoria Onyisi
The Director General, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr. Obiageli Amadioba, has called on Nigerian Universities to leverage on the opportunities offered by the Office’s Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office (IPTTO) window to present their research results for patenting at no cost to them.
Amadioba, spoke at the commissioning of the 65th Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office (IPTTO) at the Federal University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE), Effurun, Delta State out of the 67 so far established.
Performing the commissioning ceremony on Wednesday, the DG, said the gesture was born out of the urgent need to strengthen the weak intellectual property system in our knowledge institutions.
According to her, NOTAP was primarily established to regulate the inflow of foreign technology through the registration of technology transfer agreements, but also has the responsibility to encourage the development and domestication of indigenous technologies.
She said that while carrying out these responsibilities, the Office observed a weak intellectual property system in our knowledge institutions and for a country that is desirous of becoming a global player in the science, technology and innovation (STI) ecosystem, the situation was unacceptable, hence the reason for the establishment of the IPTTOs.
The DG said that in the developed countries, knowledge institutions have played significant roles in not only the economic sustenance of their institutions, but contributing to the enhanced Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of their Countries.
Amadiobi, stated that knowledge institutions should contribute in problem solving in our societies by chunning out technically skilled young graduates that can confront the developmental challenges rather than graduates that will roam the streets in search of jobs, adding that knowledge institutions should engage in market and demand-driven research instead of conventional research for the purposes of publications and career progression.
She lamented that while patent is the first step to commercialization of inventions and innovations, a greater percentage of the Nigerian researchers still leave their Research and Development results on the shelves.
She encouraged the University community to leverage on the opportunities offered by the established IPTTO to present their research results to NOTAP for patenting at no cost to the institution.
She added that although intellectual property is intangible, it should be protected to allow the owner some monopoly in financial exploitation of the inventions.
The NOTAP boss reiterated the commitment of the Office to continue to encourage the development of inventive and innovative spirits of Nigerians through strategic advocacies on the importance of research for the development of a strong IPR ecosystem.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Akpafure Rim-Rukeh who was represented at the event by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, administration, Prof Doris Favwe Ogeleka said that the establishment of the IPTTO in the institution was a dream come through as the centre will fast-track their intellectual property (IP) evaluation and applications.
He said that the University was established in 2007 with 8 collages with the vision to be the premier international institution with state-of-art facilities to provide for the petroleum and allied sectors, world-class education, training, research, consultancy and extension services.
He added that the institution is poised to create quality human resources to enhance the local content in the oil and gas and energy industry of the country.
The VC said that the University is the first of its kind not only in Nigeria but in Africa and the sixth in the world and has continued to leave up to the reasons for establishing it.
He stated that prior to the establishment of the IPTTO, the institution had engaged in critical research which has resulted in the granting of one international patent and 33 national patents to which some of the inventions have been commercialised.
He informed the visiting team from NOTAP that the institution has 15 centres of excellence and are committed to establishing more to ensure the speedy development of intellectual property awareness within the community.
He expressed delight in the gift of the IPTTO by NOTAP and challenged the University Community to justify the reason for attracting the center by chunning out bankable research and development (R&D) results that can be Commercialized for the benefit of the society.
In her paper titled “Intellectual Property Assets Management”, the Director, Technology Acquisition and Research Coordination (TARC), Mrs. Caroline Anie-Osuagwu, said that IP Assets are collections of intellectual properties such as patents, trademarks, copyrighted works, industrial designs, geographical indications, trade secrets, that are strategically chosen for their business values.
She urged the researchers to protect their inventions so as to enjoy the financial benefits accruing from their inventions
