Nigeria’s quest to reduce its dependence on imported technology and turn its growing research base into businesses and wealth took centre stage at the second edition of the NOTAP Technology and Innovation Summit (NTIS 2.0), as government, industry, researchers and innovators called for a stronger commercialisation pipeline.
With the theme, “From Research to Wealth,” the summit confronted one of the country’s biggest economic and technological challenges: how to move promising ideas from laboratories and universities into factories, businesses and global markets.
The first day attracted a peak attendance of 383 participants, with seven hours of programming, 13 sessions and more than 32 speakers. The discussions centred on closing what participants described as the “valley of death” between research and the market.
For Nigeria, the challenge is not necessarily a shortage of ideas or talent. Rather, it is the absence of a sufficiently strong system for financing, protecting, developing and commercialising those ideas.
The summit noted that Nigeria currently spends only 0.15 per cent of its GDP on research, despite its large talent output. The implication is that significant research potential remains underfunded and disconnected from the productive sector.
Turning R&D Into Industry
A major proposal emerging from the summit is aimed at changing the relationship between research and industry.
NOTAP is moving towards requiring foreign manufacturers to commit up to 40 per cent of their research and development spending to local raw-material processing.
The proposed measure is part of a broader push for industry-led research and development, with the expectation that multinational and foreign-owned manufacturers operating in Nigeria will contribute more directly to developing local technologies, materials and industrial capabilities.
The strategy could also strengthen the connection between Nigeria’s research institutions and the productive sector, ensuring that research is increasingly directed towards solving local industrial problems.
But funding remains critical.
The Bank of Industry proposed a blended financing model involving grants, equity and concessionary debt across technology-readiness levels, from early-stage research to mass manufacturing. The approach is intended to provide innovators with different forms of capital as their projects mature.
From Laboratory To Market
The Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology also introduced the Energize Commercialization Now (ECON) initiative, designed to move research across the “valley of death” and towards commercialisation.
NOTAP, meanwhile, is developing Project NOVA, involving 18 sector-specific innovation hubs targeted at regional industries and local raw materials.
The initiatives reflect a growing recognition that research funding alone is not enough. For innovation to contribute meaningfully to economic growth, Nigeria needs an ecosystem that connects researchers to intellectual-property protection, investors, manufacturers and markets.
That was also the message from the summit’s discussions on intellectual capital.
Participants argued that Nigeria must train and support owners and builders of technology rather than remain operators of foreign software and systems. They also stressed the importance of intellectual-property protection and collective organisation among inventors.
Bridging The Skills Gap
The commercialisation debate extended beyond finance and regulation to the country’s workforce.
Participants called for greater emphasis on practical experience, arguing that employers increasingly need workers who can demonstrate their abilities through projects rather than degrees alone.
Universities were consequently encouraged to embed industry academies into their programmes to help produce technicians and other skills required by industry.
The approach could help address a persistent mismatch between what educational institutions produce and what businesses require.
Proof That Local Innovation Can Work
The summit also showcased Nigerian innovations that demonstrate the commercial potential of indigenous technology.
Zoracom was highlighted for developing indigenous source code that monitors more than 85 per cent of Nigeria’s telecom connectivity devices and for exporting engineering services across Africa.
Another innovation, developed by iCreate, is a smart mobility stick for visually impaired people. The device uses microcontrollers and vibration motors to detect obstacles.
For policymakers, such examples provide evidence that the country’s innovation ecosystem can produce solutions with both local and international relevance — provided the necessary capital, policy support and market access are available.
The NTIS 3.0 Challenge
The summit ended with four major mandates for the next stage of the programme: regulatory domestication, a stronger capital pipeline, pre-graduation industry embedding and commercial export.
The objective is to enforce local R&D spending and IP protection, expand blended financing from early-stage research to manufacturing, integrate industry-based training into universities and, ultimately, take Nigerian technology into the global market.
The most ambitious target is to have at least one Nigerian indigenous deep-tech product globally exported and commercially proven by 2027.
That target captures the central message of NTIS 2.0: Nigeria’s innovation challenge is no longer simply about producing knowledge.
It is about turning knowledge into intellectual property, intellectual property into businesses, and businesses into wealth, jobs and global competitiveness.
For a country that continues to spend heavily on imported technology, the success of that transition could have implications far beyond the research community. It could become an important part of Nigeria’s broader effort to build a more productive, technology-driven economy.