By Dele Ogbodo/Funmi Ogbodo
As part of downscaling Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda coupled with it’s effort in promoting the growth of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) ecosystem in Nigeria, the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) has concluded arrangement to establish Technology and Innovation hubs across the geopolitical Zones of the country.
Speaking at a one day NOTAP South-east stakeholders sensitisation workshop and campaign organised by the Office, the Director General of NOTAP, Dr. Obiageli Amadiobi, said the aim of organising the workshop was to interact intimately with the stakeholders in the South-east about the functions and activities of the Office.
Amadiobi, who was represented at the workshop by the HOD Corporate Planning (CP) department of NOTAP, Mr. Emeka Orji, said 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 requisite awareness on the activities of the Office. Further more, it will 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.” The DG, said.
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 which are relevant to the mandate of the Office.
The DG further said that the Office is aware of the enormous number of educational institutions in the South East and Enugu State in particular which according to her, is reputed to be blessed with a pool of knowledge institutions that serve as the major bedrock for national development.
The NOTAP boss opined that the NOTAP South East Zonal Office is positioned to provide the required framework and platform to transform the great research efforts in the South East to products and services that are addressing national needs.
These will be achieved through the various technology advisory and support services of the Office, she maintained.
According her, one of the specific areas that should be of interest to the 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 commercialisation of the viable research 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.
In a signed statement, Mr. Raymond Ogbu, on behalf of the Head, Public Relations and Protocol Unit, quoted the DG as saying 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.
The DG emphasised 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 said 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.
Amadiobi, informed the gathering that through the same industry partnership, NOTAP is driving the establishment of a pilot tech hub at her 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 youths who will be trained by the best from 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 the South East Zone to take advantage of the Zonal Office located in the Enugu State Secretariat to ensure that 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, Prof. Chinedu Aguba expressed delight on the efforts of NOTAP towards a sustainable national economy through the strategic support for the development of the National STI ecosystem.
He said that the NOTAP interventions in the Nigerian knowledge institutions have been unparralled and called on other regulatory bodies to emulate the Office to build a nation that we shall be proud of.
He promised to escalate what he had learnt through the workshop in his University to encourage market and demand-driven research.
