By Adaobi Rhema Oguejiofor
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has announced its partnership with Triple Helix Nigeria (THN) to host the maiden edition of the SciBiz Annual Conference 2024 in a bid to create a platform for critical stakeholders to share ideas, explore opportunities for collaboration and co-create pathways for the commercialisation of research outputs.
This was disclosed by NCDMB’s Office of Corporate Communications, stating that the event with the theme, “Integrating Research Innovation and Policy: Triple Helix Pathway to a Digital Nigeria,” is slated to hold in Abuja between 23rd and 25th October, 2024.
The event is set to bring together the three arms of the Triple Helix, which include the academia, industry and government, for the purpose of formulating strategies to bridge the gap between scientific discoveries and their practical applications in solving societal challenges.
According to the group, the Triple Helix model has been a proven mechanism for fostering innovation ecosystems in advanced economies, but that has been largely lacking in Nigeria because of limited interaction among the three aforementioned arms, with the result that the potential synergy has remained untapped.
The Conference, which is being sponsored by NCDMB, is expected to be a strategic response to the urgent need to strengthen innovations that convert research findings into marketable products and services, generate employment, and stimulate economic growth.
As announced by the partners, key elements during the event include plenary sessions, featuring expert keynote speakers from Nigeria and abroad, panel discussions in which leaders from the academia, industry, and government, would explore how to overcome barriers to research commercialisation and innovation in Nigeria, and Innovation Pitching Competition, to be conducted in collaboration with OxFounders, featuring presentation of projects undertaken by startups and innovators to potential investors and partners.
There would also be workshops and breakout sessions, involving discussion groups focusing on research funding, intellectual property management, and fostering an entrepreneurial mindset in universities, exhibition, a platform for innovators, startups, research institutions, and industries to showcase their products, services, and technologies to a diverse audience, and diaspora engagement, for which a dedicated subcommittee is in place to facilitate collaborations with Nigerian professionals to leverage global expertise for local challenges.
The target audience for the Conference are academics and researchers from Nigerian and international universities, representatives from industries, including startups and small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), government officials and policymakers in science, technology, and innovation sectors, investors and venture capitalists, international organisations, as well as development partners, innovators, entrepreneurs, and students.