NBTI Seeks to Partner with NOTAP in Promote Technology Transfer and IP
Management
In order to effectively promote technology transfer, acquisition and Intellectual
Property management, the National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI) has
sought the partnership of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and
Promotion (NOTAP).

The Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Dr. Kazeem
Kolawole Raji who led the management staff of the agency on a courtesy visit to
NOTAP said that they were in NOTAP to identify areas of common interest and
synergize to move the Science, technology and Innovation (STI) sector forward.
He said that the Office was set up primarily to establish, and manage all technology
parks and incubation centres in Nigeria, adding that the first incubation center in
Nigeria was established in 1993 in Agege, Lagos State before the proliferation to 15
technology incubation centres across the geopolitical zones of the country.

Dr. Kazeem stated that a lot of research has been carried out in the Nigerian
knowledge institutions but to move this research and development (R&D) results to
commercialization level has been the challenge. He further said that partnership with
an agency such as NOTAP that has a cordial working relationship with venture
capitalists and other government developmental partners, would ensure more
indigenous goods and services are developed for the market.

The DG emphasized the need for awareness creation on the skills and capabilities
within the country, noting that the agency had done a lot in terms of mentorship and
incubating some Nigerian young scientists and innovators but these efforts are not
known.

He pointed out that with over 237 million Nigerians, the country is an investment
attraction to the western world, and hence Nigerian leaders should take this
comparative advantage and empower its citizens intellectually to fend for themselves.
The NBTI boss announced that while the agency has created over five thousand
products in the Nigerian market, part of their major nightmare is their inability to
establish incubation parks and hubs in the six geopolitical zones of the country
where graduated incubates and innovators can move in to continue their business
operations.

The Director General reiterated the desire of the agency to establish technology
incubation centres in all the 774 Local Government Areas in the country but
insufficient funding has always been their hindrance. He therefore opined that the
Nigerian research funding mechanisms should be strengthened to ensure the
smooth carriage of their responsibilities.

He therefore appealed to NOTAP to assist in activating its national and international
collaborators in ensuring that Nigerian researchers and innovators are offered a
better and smoother operational platform to fast-track industrialization and ensure
sustained economic development.

In her welcome speech, the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of
NOTAP, Dr. Obiageli Amadiobi commended the Director General of NBTI for
the critical developmental initiatives being carried out by the establishment.
She said that NOTAP was established to regulate the inflow of foreign technology
into the country through the registration of technology transfer agreements but also
has the responsibility of encouraging the development and domestication of locally
motivated technologies.

The DG stated that in ensuring the development of the STI ecosystem, the Office
had evolved some critical projects and programmes such as the establishment of
Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office (IPTTOs) in knowledge
institutions. She said that the IPTTOs were primarily established in some Nigerian
knowledge institutions to create Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) awareness and
also encourage demand-driven research as against conventional research.

Dr. Amadiobi also informed the visitors that the office in partnership with industries
and Nigerian Universities, initiated a programme called NOTAP-Industry
Technology Transfer Fellowship (NITTF). She said that the fellowship was a
voluntary postgraduate sponsorship programme, where the industry will sponsor a
young Nigerian who had obtained a Masters Degree but is desirous of acquiring a
PhD in a field of study that will be determined by the sponsoring company.

She said that the NITTF programme which started in 2016 had three sponsoring
companies that sponsored three pioneer candidates who went through a stringent
selection process through a committee comprising of representatives from the
Nigerian University Commission (NUC), representatives of the sponsoring
companies as well NOTAP. The DG further stated that when other companies
noticed the impact and benefits of the programme not just to the candidates but also
to the sponsoring companies, others joined, making it possible for the programme to
be sustainable.

The NOTAP boss further stated that NOTAP is not a patent granting agency
though it encourages the development of indigenous technologies through assistance
to the Nigerian inventors and innovators in conducting preliminary search to
ascertain the patentability of their invention, draft patent claims for them in some
cases, and pay the patenting fees.

She said that the Office has a close working relationship with the Bank of Industry
and other developmental institutions and has succeeded in commercializing some
indigenous inventions through their funding programme. She added that since the
synergy has been established and maintained, the office will be ready and willing to
link incubatees for possible commercialization of their inventions.

Raymond Onyenezi Ogbu