…tasks NASENI, varsities to build research-to-commercialisation pipeline

The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Alausa, has challenged Nigerian universities and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) to move beyond producing research papers and prototypes by turning innovations into businesses, jobs and marketable products capable of powering Nigeria’s ambition of a $1 trillion economy.

Alausa said the country could no longer afford a situation where valuable research produced with public funds ended up on university shelves or in academic journals without translating into products, enterprises and solutions to Nigeria’s development challenges.

The Minister gave the charge while addressing Vice-Chancellors, Directors of Academic Affairs, Directors of Postgraduate Studies and officials of the Federal Ministry of Education’s Directorate of University Education on the prospects of partnering with NASENI through its proposed NASENI Campus.

He said the initiative offered an opportunity to establish a functional bridge between Nigeria’s universities and industry by connecting researchers to advanced laboratories, prototyping facilities, investors and manufacturing companies.

According to him, the country must deliberately build a system in which an idea conceived in a university laboratory can progress through patenting, product development, investment, manufacturing and eventually become a viable company employing Nigerians.

He said, “We must move from research to commercialisation. Our research outputs should not end as academic publications or prototypes. We need to take those ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace.”

Drawing lessons from the innovation ecosystem around Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States, the Minister said Nigerian researchers must be given the opportunity to protect their intellectual property, develop inventions into marketable products and attract investors willing to establish companies around them.

He said such a model would enable Nigeria to convert its large pool of researchers, lecturers, students and other skilled professionals into tangible economic value.

“This is how human capital becomes human development,” Alausa said, stressing that the country’s intellectual resources would remain underutilised unless universities were deliberately connected to industry and investment.

The Minister therefore tasked NASENI to establish stronger affiliations with universities located around its development centres, saying the agency could provide the critical link between academic research and commercial success.

He said universities had the researchers and ideas, while NASENI could complement these with infrastructure, technology development, prototyping and access to industry.

According to him, the agency should go beyond supporting research to helping universities patent inventions, connect researchers with venture capital and facilitate the establishment of spin-off companies from promising university innovations.

Alausa also urged NASENI to explore opportunities in lithium processing and battery manufacturing as Nigeria seeks to expand its renewable energy capacity and strengthen its industrial base.

He said the emerging energy transition presented Nigeria with an opportunity to use its natural resources and research capabilities to create new industries rather than merely exporting raw materials.

Earlier, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NASENI, Mr Khalil Halilu, said the agency was already working towards bridging the gap between research and production in accordance with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive that Nigeria must move beyond prototypes to actual manufacturing.

Halilu explained that the proposed NASENI Campus was designed as an integrated ecosystem where researchers, professors, prototyping facilities, industries and commercialisation opportunities could operate within the same environment.

He said the campus, located within a 100-hectare free trade zone, was being developed to facilitate the movement of ideas from universities into industrial production.

According to him, several factories and industrial facilities had already been established within the zone, creating an environment where researchers could interact directly with manufacturers and potential investors.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja, Prof. Hakeem Fawehinmi, said the university’s existing partnership with NASENI demonstrated the potential of the model being advocated by the Minister.

Fawehinmi said the collaboration had already produced facilities including an integrated agriculture incubation centre, greenhouse facilities, automated poultry systems and tissue culture laboratories.

He said the facilities were being used to support undergraduate and postgraduate research, adding that the university was prepared to deepen its collaboration with NASENI in emerging areas, including dairy science and renewable energy.

Similarly, the Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, Prof. Haruna Musa, said the institution was exploring expanded collaboration with NASENI in nanotechnology, vaccinology, toxinology and mathematical modelling.

Musa disclosed that two research projects from the university had reached the final stage of NASENI’s research commercialisation grant process.

Among them, he said, were a reusable sanitary pad project and research focused on the commercial production of sweet potato-based starch derivatives.

The projects, he said, demonstrated the enormous commercial potential that existed within Nigerian universities if researchers were provided with the necessary infrastructure, funding and industry connections to take their innovations beyond the laboratory.

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