…As Nnaji bemoans the increasing number of research results in the famous ‘death valley’
By Dele Ogbodo
The Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji and the National Office for Technological Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), on Monday, ignited a landmark move, birthing a robust brainstorming session on the way forward for effective commercialization of country’s research findings and innovation carried out by research institutions, tertiary institutions, developers and investors.
Commercialization of these research findings and results, they acknowledged is the panacea to job/wealth creation, sustainable economic development and migrating the country from being a dependent country on the West and Asian countries.
The Minister, regretted that the long list of research and innovative works on shelves have increased the number of research results that have ended in the famous ‘valley of death.’
Recall that the absence of complete commercialization cycle of research results has been one of the banes why research results from across the country are on the shelf and yet to get to the market thereby making Nigeria a destination and a dumping ground for fake and substandard goods especially from China and India.
Speaking at a sensitization workshop organized by NOTAP in Abuja, on research output commercialization which attracted stakeholders from the STI ecosystem, innovators and members of the media, the Minister while commending NOTAP for bringing the topic into the front burner of national discourse, said that the workshop is aimed at addressing Nigeria’s technological and industrial development through effective research commercialization.
According to him, NOTAP has long been at the forefront of driving national initiatives to regulate foreign technology inflow, developing technology acquisition, adaptation, domestication of strategies and promoting indigenous technological activities.
This workshop, he said is a testament to NOTAP’s commitment to sustaining the national drive for research commercialization and national development anchored on a robust Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) platform
Nnaji, acknowledged that it is well-known that the Nigerian STI landscape is quantitatively rich with several documented research activities and results, adding that Nigeria has many knowledge institutions, including 272 universities, 108 polytechnics, 235 Colleges of Education, several research institutes and unquantifiable numbers of private researchers, innovators and inventors.
The vast resource base according to him, is known for regularly producing so many research results, adding that the continent’s
publishing landscape showed that Nigeria is only second to South Africa in the number of research papers published in peer-reviewed journals.
On the sad reality, he added that notwithstanding the impressive scorecard on the deluge of research results from the Nigerian knowledge system, the sad reality is that most of these results have ended up in cabin “shelves” where they continuously gather dust and wait for more of such results to be published and join the long list.
He said: “We must therefore, collectively confront this challenge and tackle it head-on Incidentally, no country that has ever developed and maximized its research potentials dare stop at the stage of generating research results only. Instead, they would ensure that the cycle is completed by strategically pushing for the actual commercialization of their viable research results.
“Ensuring that research outputs are commercialized effectively guarantees the emergence and availability of new products and services in the market.
“This availability in the market further affirms that society can optimally benefit from them, ensuring that STI proactively address societal challenges and needs. These developed economies rely on the depth and strength of their.
“STI programmes and activities to remain relevant and sustain their high positions in the global development and innovation rankings.”
Due to the immense challenges in achieving a successful commercialization cycle, this workshop becomes extremely important for all stakeholders within the research commercialization value chain and its ecosystem, adding that this underscores the importance of this workshop is the multiple societal needs confronting our country, making it more evident that the mono-economic structure of her operations is unsustainable.
However, the Minister said the present situation of the economy has also reaffirmed the already-known fact that Nigeria needs her research community to put on thinking caps, rise to the occasion and provide the citizenry with products and services that drive the desired diversified economy of our dream.
He however challenge every researcher and indeed all the stakeholders at the workshop and in the research commercialization value chain to see the present societal needs as a call to action by taking every necessary step required to ensure that the research results from the vast knowledge base of the country are effectively commercialized, with the attendant benefits manifesting in the national economy.
“On our part, he said, the Ministry will continue to provide the necessary support to NOTAP to ensure the achievement of this noble drive to facilitate the commercialization of research results.
“The government is not unaware of the enormous financial demands needed to foster a functional research commercialization culture in the system and would explore all legitimate opportunities to ensure increased funding of this significant component of the country’s scientific endeavours.
“The success of the just concluded 2024 Techno Expo is a testament to my Ministry’s resolve to drive the aggressive commercialization of research results.
“We are committed to this drive and will continue to engage with all stakeholders in the STI ecosystem and value chain to ensure that Nigeria and its citizens benefit from the monumental potential inherent in STI.” He said.
According to him, the 2022 revised STl policy document that strongly emphasized innovation and other critical programmes, such as the Presidential Standing Committee on Invention and Innovation (PSCl), among many others, are strategies of the Ministry in advancing research commercialization within the system.
While looking forward to the positive impact of this workshop’s outcome on the national developmental framework, I again wish to congratulate NOTAP for organizing this event and wish all participants fruitful deliberations.
In her welcome address, the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Esuabana Asanye, expressed optimism that the brainstorming session will move the country forward through a new paradigm on commercialization of research and development outputs.
According to her, the workshop is also aimed at expeditiously sustaining the exploitation and exploration of our research development innovation potential through a national vibrant academy and research community, adding that the success of the exposition is expected to facilitate the technological and industrial growth of the nation.
She said our research work can no longer be kept in the shelf any longer, adding that that is the reason why the gathering has become expedient.
However, she added that our country is experiencing dwindling revenue because of the crash in prices of the oil and gas sector, adding: “We are here today to think of how to make STI another area to build our national revenue.
“In other climes, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics have helped to advance China, India and Japan, the Asian tiger nations and therefore Nigeria cannot afford to pay a nonchalant attitude towards the development of STI.
“We must strive to convert our developmental challenges by building on a robust STI to make sure that the country move forward as we cannot depend on other countries to build our economy for us.”
Asanye, said it has become imperative and long overdue for stakeholders to address the developmental challenges through commercializing her available research results, adding that the expectation of the Ministry from the outcome is so high and achieving it calls for greater collaboration from the productive sectors toward identifying sectoral priorities and increasing the relevance of such strategies for research outputs.
She encourage the stakeholders to maintain commitments toward ensuring the technological of the country which is anchored on a strong and vibrant STI platform.
While fielding questions from journalists at the sideline of the event, the Acting Director General of NOTAP, Mrs. Idoreyin Imiyoho, also acknowledged the deluge of research results but regretted that most of them are still within the confines of shelf.
She explained that for effective commercialization cycle, the research product or result should be able to find its way to the market, adding: “If they remain on the shelf they really don’t make sense and that is why we need to design a new national developmental framework that will address commercialization of inventions because without commercialization the innovation or research result might not be useful.
On availability of finance and funding for inventors, she said the Ministry supports innovation through the Presidential Standing Committee on Invention and Innovation (PSCl) adding that the Federal Government through the Ministry support inventors through Bank of Industry (BoI).
Speaking earlier, she said the brainstorming event marked her official assignment with the Minister and the Permanent Secretary since assumption of office in October 2023, adding that the meeting to brainstorm under the advocacy framework is a testament of the desire of the nation’s scientific community to forge a common front for Nigeria’s national development.
Imihoyo, said it is worthy of note adding that the gathering underscores the importance that the Ministry places on the technological development of Nigeria and need to systematically drive the commercialization of viable inventions towards facilitating the emergence of diversified of the economy.
According to her, it is also a testament that federal government is ready to deploy STI as pivot to anchor strategic development of the country.
The workshop according to her is being organized to sustain advocacy on the need to go beyond conventional researches of churning out researches without completing the cycle of the successful commercialization of such results especially where they have been proved to be viable.
According to her, Nigeria through the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Tinubu, desires among others to expand her resource base, generate employment opportunities and create sustainable wealth outcome, adding all this will be anchored on the strength of viable commercializing viable research results of goods and services through pragmatic research and commercialization process.
The workshop, she added is therefore aimed at ensuring successful sustainability in the discourse of effective commercialization of research results with stakeholders in the ecosystem.
She assured that NOTAP will continue to provide the services and platform including patent support services and technological advisory services that are necessary for the successful of achieving the agency’s mandate.