The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) is set to commence ranking of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTOs) across the country to encourage demand-driven research and launch Nigeria into the comity of technologically independent nations.
The director-general of NOTAP, Dr. DanAzumi Ibrahim, revealed this during a one-day sensitisation forum with the IPTTOs coordinators in Lagos, saying 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.
He pointed out that the IPTTO initiative was to sensitise 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.
Ibrahim stated that the programme started in 2006 with the establishment of six centers and has progressed both in number and quality to 60 IPTTOs across the country. He further said that the office is prepared to establish IPTTOs in all universities, polytechnics and research establishments in Nigeria but is constrained by funds.
The NOTAP boss, however, noted that the world economy is driven and sustained by knowledge therefore as a regulatory agency saddled with the responsibility of regulating the inflow of foreign technologies through the registration of technology transfer agreements, NOTAP is aware of the huge amount of money expended on importation of foreign technologies, hence the need to encourage the development of local capacities through IPTTOs.
He revealed that after close to two decades of the initiative, there was need to start evaluation and ranking of the IPTTOs for the purposes of ascertaining the viability or otherwise of some of the centers. He encouraged the coordinators to always report their breakthroughs as well as challenges to NOTAP for proper analysis and diagnosis of the issues for better output.
Ibrahim noted that there was disconnect between the academia and industry which could be bridged by the establishment of IPTTOs to ensure that Nigerian researchers engaged in industrial needs’ research for they and mankind’s benefit.
He further promised to assist in training institutions in need to ensure they have a better understanding of the importance of intellectual property to the economic sustainability of the country.
In her presentation titled “Brief on IPTTO Ranking”, the director, technology acquisition and research coordination (TARC), NOTAP, Mrs. Carol Anie-Osuagwu said that the ranking had become necessary owing to the fact that some centers are performing well while much haven’t been heard of some.
She said that the importance of IPTTO to the advancement of science, technology and innovation (STI) in Nigerian cannot be overemphasised. “Therefore, all coordinators should strive to ensure that the staff and students of their institutions are fully aware of the enormous potential benefits derivable from the programme.”
The director stated that Nigerian researchers are yet to benefit maximally from their research undertakings, adding that the establishment of the IPTTOs was to encourage researchers to patent their research and development (R&D) results before publishing, adding that any invention that is not patented is vulnerable to infringement.
A statement by NOTAP’s assistant chief information officer, Mr. Raymond Ogbu, said Osuagwu revealed that there will be prize money for the best, as well as first and second runners-up IPTTOs as a way of motivating them as well as encouraging centres that are not performing up to expectation to wake up. She further stated that the criteria for ranking shall comprise of visibility of the centre within the institution, documentation of institutional R&D results, institutional intellectual property policy in place, among other.
