AUST Seeks More Investment, Innovation To Boost Africa’s Products

The African University of Science and Technology (AUST) has taken steps to push for more investment and innovation in order to boost homegrown products in Africa and make them viable for commercialisation around the world.

The president of AUST, Prof. Peter Onwualu, stated this in a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday ahead of the African X Summit 2026 to be held in Abuja between April 27 and 29, with the theme “Reshaping the future of Africa through Innovation, Investment and collaboration”

Prof Onwualu noted that the summit will provide an avenue for policymakers, industry players, and innovators to chart a way forward for Africa’s indigenous products, reducing reliance on foreign products and providing homegrown solutions to the continent’s technology needs.

Onwualu noted that for Africa to achieve its desires in innovation, more investment must be made in research to change the fortunes of the region, as many of the solutions currently deployed to address the continent’s challenges were largely imported technologies or semi-processed inputs, making development efforts unsustainable.

He lamented that Nigeria’s enormous potential, especially its youthful and highly educated population, abundant natural resources, and the growing emergence of innovation hubs across cities, have not been turned into actual innovation resources, as the country still struggles to translate knowledge into tangible economic value.

He said that the passage and implementation of the National Research and Innovation Fund, as presented to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu, will ensure sustainable funding for research and development.

“The issue is that almost everything we use or consume, including what we use in production, is imported is the reason why our development agenda is not sustainable,” he said.

He noted that more effort must be channelled to move research outcomes into innovation and, eventually, into marketable goods and services, with researcher-led efforts to develop technologies and solutions.

He decried that, despite the presence of over 300 higher institutions, hundreds of research centres, and a growing informal innovation sector, the nation still grapples with systemic failures that have made it difficult to commercialise research findings and inventions.

The AfricaX Summit, he said, was formulated to provide a blueprint to bridge this gap by convening innovators, investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers under one roof, adding that the initiative would strengthen collaboration among stakeholders, including government institutions responsible for policy development.

The Summit, which goes beyond Nigeria to other African countries, aligns with the continent’s growing push for economic integration under frameworks such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Earlier, the chairman of the Local Organising Committee, Kingsley Ogwudu, described the summit as a new dimension in Africa’s quest for self-reliance in innovation trajectory, stressing that the event would serve as a catalyst to bridge the gap between African research and global capital, bringing together innovators, researchers, investors, policymakers, and development partners.

“Africa can no longer be a mere consumer of innovation and technology; we must become architects of solutions to our own challenges in health, education, climate change, energy and fintech,” he said.

The summit’s focus areas include innovation ecosystems, investment and finance, youth and women empowerment, and public-private partnerships to boost opportunities for African talents to develop solutions with global relevance.

“This is your stage for innovators, your deal room for investors, and the future for the public,” he said.