NOTAP Summit: Minister Calls For Commercialisation Of Research, Innovations

The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Kingsley Tochukwu Udeh, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN,  has declared that Nigeria must become a global competitive economy through technology and innovation. He said what’s uppermost to the federal government at the moment is how to covert the abundant knowledge in the country  into research and ultimately wealth.

The minister made the assertion on Wednesday while delvering a keynote address at a Technology and Innovation summit organised by the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion, NOTAP in Lagos,titled: ”From Research To Wealth”
The summit was attended by representaives of Denmark, Sweden and German government, apart from key players in the nation’s ICT sector.
Udeh who was represented at the event said the nationmust transform from a global consumer of technology to producer and owner of innovations,saying knowledge must be converted into prosperity for Nigerians, adding that research is only meaningfulwhen it improves life,create employmentandstrenghtens industries.
He stressed that the technology summit was timely in the sense that it came at a time when the federal government is making serious efforts tomake the nation a global competitve economy, noting that what is paramount to the government is to move the country from the group of technology consumers to innovation ownership.
”The central question before us is how do we transform research to wealth? or convert knowledge into prosperity? How dowe make a country which is a consumer of foreign technology” to producer and owner of innovations
Hesaid research becomes truly meaningful when it improves life, strenghtens industries, create emplyment and expand national prosperity,adding that the nation requires ”immense” intellectual capital to create workable technology for all the sectors ofthe economy, stressing that the aim willbe achieved when there’s collabration from all the sectors of the economy, including members of the academia which he said must play a key role.
He explained that the national strategy should be how to build an eco-system where ideas can move into production of technology, adding that the overall plan should include how to commmercialise innovation and research.