The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has said that the $50 million Nigerian Content Research and Development Fund is contributing significantly in boosting the country’s oil and gas sector.
The executive secretary, NCDMB, Felix Ogbe, who made this known in Abuja on Wednesday, underscored the pivotal role that funding plays in achieving meaningful sustainable research and development.
Recall that the NCDMB launched the fund in 2020 to enhance research and development in the oil sector.
The Board has established six research centres across Nigeria to support this initiative, aiming to stimulate local capacity and technological advancements in the oil and gas industry
Speaking at the SciBiz 2024 annual conference, organised by Triple Helix Nigeria, Ogbe, who was represented by general manager, Research and Development, Silas Omomehin Ajimijaye, reiterated the need to harness expertise, leading technologies and best practices of international experts and institutions to strengthen research and innovation potential.
Triple Helix hosted the conference following its successful inauguration in 2021 and in fulfilment of the requirements for galvanising members’ in intellectual discourse, to promote research and innovation culture in Nigeria and Africa.
The conference, being sponsored by the NCDMB, Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) and others has its theme as “Integrating Research, Innovation, and Policy: Triple Helix Pathway to Research Commercialisation”.
He described partnerships as a strategic way to enhance local efforts and to make the country an important player in global innovation, and called for an ecosystem for cutting-edge research, innovation and policy towards sustainable development.
“Creating an ecosystem where research, innovation and policy can interact has never been more critical as we steer our course through the complexities of the 21st century.
“Strategically, the Triple Helix model of Academia, Industry, and Government collaboration is an appropriate international business framework for expressing ideas about how research could be turned into new products and services.
“One avenue through which NCDMB exercises this mandate is by applying local content development to enhance research and commercialisation of innovative solutions for Nigeria’s oil industry,” he said.
He said it would onboard more impactful research projects in the upcoming months in addition to the fourteen applied research projects that it presently sponsored at various stages of technological readiness.
Ogbe said the $50 million Nigerian Content Research and Development Fund was created by the Board in 2020 and designed to provide much-needed research funds in the oil and gas research and development space.
He however urged the participants to explore more collaborative opportunities to develop strategies to drive progress.
President, Triple Helix Nigeria, Abdulmalik Halilu, said transition from education through research to commercialisation heralded an evolving frontier where academia, industry and government could collaborate under the Triple Helix model.
This model, he said, would ensure that research transcended the boundaries of laboratories and classrooms, to solving real-world problems and fostering economic prosperity.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Nigeria’s annual patent application has risen from below hundred in 2016 to more than 400 in 2023.
This significant growth, he said, suggested that with the right policy environment propelled by the quest to develop market driven home grown technology, Nigeria has the potential to transform universities to solution-based entrepreneur centres of excellence.
He said in response to identified challenges and opportunities inherent in a knowledge based economy, some professionals with common interests of economic development through research and innovation established Triple Helix Chapter in Nigeria, in 2021.
“The association has a global network of six regions including: North America; Latin America; Europe; North Asia; South Asia and Africa. We set an ambitious Vision 10-10-10-10 to demonstrate our commitment to bequeath entrepreneurial university systems in Nigeria.
“Through this vision, Triple Helix Nigeria seeks to inspire at least 10 knowledge institutions, to accelerate innovation and have at least 10 per cent equity in 10 listed companies in the next 10 years.
“This model has worked in many of the regions where the Triple helix Association has a strong presence and we have no doubt that it can happen in Nigeria and Africa,” he said.
He expressed hope that the conference would foster structured partnerships between industry and research community, to attract research based funding in the direction of Africa based researchers.
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