The management of Marist College Yangoji, Kwali Area Council, Abuja has sought the assistance of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) in patenting two inventions made by the school’s Hackivia Sage Team.
The school’s principal, Reverend Brother Ifeanyi Mbaegbu who led the team and their supervisor/mentor on a courtesy call on the NOTAP director-general, Dr. DanAzumi Ibrahim said the school’s Hackivia Sage Team came up with Air Quality Monitor (SenseBox) and Water Quality Monitor (AquaBot).
He explained that the AquaBot is a smart water quality monitoring device that helps to describe the water quality parameters such as pH, turbidity, salinity and temperature of the water, adding the device helps fish farmers and other stakeholders who deal directly with water to know more about water quality.
He described the second invention known as SenseBox as a device that detects the level of harmful particles and chemicals in the air and quickly relays the information to users via computer and smart phones in a format that is easy to understand. He added the device measures the environment several times within a minute and delivers a one-minute average value to a connected analytics solution which appears on a dashboard.
He reiterated that with the SenseBox, sensing as-a service is possible through providing users with air quality monitoring and management system utilizing BIG DATA analytics.
Mbaegbu further stated that with both devices, the school emerged winners in the 2021 Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) competition that was held at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, Ogun State on June 26, 2021, pointing out that the feat qualified the school to represent Nigeria in the 2021 SAGE Global Competition holding later this year.
He reiterated that the inventions were capable of inspiring positive change in the Nigerian environmental ecosystem and would strongly impact on the economy of our country and across the West African sub-region by making available the much-needed hyper-local air thus creating healthier lives, and healthier economy.
Marist College Yangoji is a co-educational private secondary school owned and managed by Marist Brothers.
NOTAP boss, Ibrahim congratulated the team and the school management for winning the SAGE competition and expressed optimism in the ability of the team to excel in the global contest and win laurels for the country. He added from the brilliant presentation of the students, his hope on the future of the country had been rekindled.
He stated that the agency was primarily established to regulate the inflow of foreign technology into the country and at the same time, encourage the development of indigenous technologies for socio-economic growth of the nation through the registration of technology transfer agreements.
Saying the economic growth and stability of every country is dependent on her strength in science, technology and innovation, he assured that as an agency of government saddled with the responsibility of promoting indigenous technologies, NOTAP would support the school’s projects through the payment of patenting fees.
A statement signed by Raymond Onyenezi Ogbu for the agency’s head, public relations and protocol unit, said Ibrahim further stated that Nigeria has a weak intellectual property culture, a situation he said spurred NOTAP to initiate the establishment of intellectual property and technology transfer offices (IPTTOs) across Nigerian knowledge institutions in 2006 in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to create awareness on the importance of Intellectual Property (IP) protection.
So far, he said 58 IPTTOs had been established with a significant increase in IP awareness across Nigerian knowledge institutions, culminating in increased number of patents emanating from these institutions. He encouraged the school to urgently file application for the patenting of the inventions, adding the agency would pay the patenting fee for the school and hand over the certificates to it after the process.
