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The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) has announced plans to begin ranking Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTOs) around the country in order to foster demand-driven research.
The establishment of IPTTOs in the Nigerian knowledge institutions across the geopolitical zones of the Country was an initiative of NOTAP in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a United Nations agency based in Geneva, Switzerland.
According to Director-General of NOTAP, Dr. DanAzumi Mohammed Ibrahim, the IPTTO initiative was to sensitize the Nigerian knowledge institutions on the importance of Intellectual Property Right (IPR) as well as the need to engage in market-driven research as against conventional research.
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Ibrahim, who was speaking at a sensitization forum with the IPTTOs Coordinators on the ranking of IPTTOs, said the programme started in 2006 with the establishment of six centres and has progressed both in number and quality to 60 IPTTOs across the country.
He added that NOTAP was working around funding challenges to set up IPTTOs in all universities, polytechnics and research establishments in Nigeria.
Ibrahim observed that that the gap between academia and industry was being bridged through the establishment of IPTTO allowing Nigerian researchers to directly focus their research efforts on industrial needs.
Increasing local research contents will help reduce the heavy dependency on foreign research consumption and the huge impact on FOREX. High importation of foreign technologies discourages development of local capacities through IPTTOs, the NOTAP’s boss added.
To further strengthen Dr. Ibrahim’s position, the Director of Technology Acquisition and Research Coordination (TARC) department of NOTAP, Mrs. Carol Anie-Osuagwu said IPTTO ranking as well as its contribution to the advancement of science, technology and innovation (STI) remains critical to Nigeria’s development.
