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Tag: Academia

  • NCC restates commitment to fund research as VCs attend roundtable

    NCC restates commitment to fund research as VCs attend roundtable

    Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Adeolu Akande, has restated the commitment of the Commission to commit more funds to research and prototypes resulting from grants from the Commission to the academia.

    This is coming at the backdrop of the recent revelation that the Commission has committed more than N500 million in funding research across the Nigerian universities.

    Akande told a gathering of vice chancellors and professors from universities in the southern parts of the country at a roundtable conference at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, that the Commission acknowledges the importance of working with stakeholders to engender innovations and build indigenous technological capabilities that would strengthen the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) ecosystem.

    “We want to use this opportunity to assure you that the Commission will continue to give support to the educational sector in the interest of national development. We will also continue to encourage research and innovation in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions,” Akande said, explaining that the essence of the roundtable was to dialogue with the academia, industry and other stakeholders on how research efforts and prototypes can be transformed into commercially-viable products that solve real-life problems.

    “Consequently, the Commission will continue to allocate the requisite resources to research, development and innovations necessary for the industry to continue to contribute to the socio-economic development of the country,” Akande said.

    Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, represented by the Director, Legal and Regulatory Services of the Commission, Josphine Amuwa, said academia is a key driver of innovation in all spheres of human endeavour.

    He said this is why his leadership at the Commission is determined to not only give grants to the academia but also support the commercialisation of the prototypes developed to deepen the indigenous technological capabilities which would support the overall development of the industry.

    NCC Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Ubale Maska, who was represented by Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity at the Commission, Bako Wakil, revealed that the Commission had, so far, awarded a total of 49 telecom-based research grants to the academia out of which 10 prototypes have been successfully developed.

    “We are hopeful that these sessions will culminate in the development of a common framework that would facilitate the commercialisation of the existing prototypes and future research outcomes (prototypes) for the benefit of the economy and the industry,” he stated.

    Coming shortly after a similar roundtable in Kano for the northern region, the event organised by the research prototypes and Development R&D Department of the Commission, was aimed at bringing together Resources persons, business savvy industry experts, the academia, relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), entrepreneurs and renowned individuals who have successfully commercialised their inventions to brainstorm on the way forward for research output commercialisation.

  • NCC doles out N500m for research in Nigerian Universities

    NCC doles out N500m for research in Nigerian Universities

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has committed over N500 million to Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions across the country to facilitate research and innovations to promote developments in the Nigerian telecommunications industry.

    Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta who disclosed this at a two-day Regional Roundtable with Academia, Industry and Other Stakeholders which ended in Kano at the weekend, said the funds have been committed to research grants to universities and tertiary institutions, including professorial chairs in the universities in salient areas to drive technology development.

    Danbatta said the Commission is now focused on supporting the academia in the commercialisation of the prototypes from these innovative researches as this is relevant to the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy’s policy towards achieving indigenous technology for sustainable development  of our country.

    He said the roundtable organized by the Commission was to provide the necessary platform to support the commercialisation of locally- developed telecommunications innovations which NCC has been sponsoring.

    “The Commission collaborates with the Academia in maximising the contributions of tertiary institutions to innovations and sustainable development of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry as finance is needed to drive possible success of these endeavours, ” Danbatta said.

    Danbatta said these efforts has enabled the Commission to contribute to national efforts to ensure overall growth of the industry and create wealth for innovators, saying all these are fundamental to the objective of the NCC’s R&D-oriented programmes.

    On the basis of these, he said ideas, inventions, and improvements that emanate from the academia are required by the industry for improved efficiency and productivity.

    Danbatta said appreciable impacts had been achieved since the Commission reinvigorated research grants for telecommunications-based research innovations from Nigerian academics, focusing on successful commercialisation of locally developed solutions to foster and deepen the uptake of indigenous technology by Nigerians.

    NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Engr Ubale Maska, also disclosed that the Commission, has so far awarded 49 telecom- based research grants to the academia  out of which 10 prototypes were successfully developed and displayed to industry stakeholders.

    He said the R&D efforts of the Commission were aimed at actualising some of the 8-point Pillar Eight of National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), 2020-2030, focusing on Indigenous Content Development and Adoption.

    The event, which featured series of panel session discussions, particularly focusing on sub-themes that addressed the overarching theme of the stakeholders forum from different perspectives, drew participants from the academia, telecoms industry stakeholders, financial services sector and other critical sectors or the economy.

    Participants deliberated on understanding commercialisation and entrepreneurial model within the university and industry perspectives as well as brainstormed on investment/ funding opportunities for prototype development, sustainability and the sale of new products in the market place.

  • NCC partners academia on research, innovation

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it has directed funds to universities to encourage innovation in the country.

    The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, stated this on Wednesday in Lagos, during the Second Roundtable with the Academia, Industry stakeholders and others, for the South West Region.

    Represented by the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, NCC, Mr Ubale Maska, Danbatta said that the commission had partnered universities to boost research and development.

    He said that the advancement of technology across several spheres of human endeavour had created new industries, opportunities, knowledge areas and challenges.

    This, according to him, had increased the speed at which alignment between the different stakeholders in the economy should take place, to ensure that no aspect of development was left behind.

    “Innovation is seen as a way to break out from the old and embrace the new technologies.

    “’Innovate or Die’’ is a slogan used by many business enterprises. In order to survive, the industry needs to embrace innovation.

    “Innovation to telecommunication companies can be a linear machine to deliver what they deliver best.

    “Every telecommunications provider will aspire to transform into that new agile future-looking telecommunication company,’’ Dabatta said.

    He said being aware of this increasing phenomenon, the commission among other things, directed funds to boosting research and development in universities across the country to encourage innovation.

    “I am glad to say that our universities are making good progress in Information and Communication Technology research and development,’’ he said.

    According to Danbatta, the academia is a key driver of innovation in all spheres of human endeavour.

    He said that the ideas, inventions and improvements that emanated from the academia were required by the industry for improved efficiencies and productivity.

    Danbatta said that there was increased delivery of speed by various broadband technologies like 4G and 5G technologies.

    He said advancement in processor and other electronics technologies had led to huge opportunities and risks.

    This, he said, necessitates collaboration between academia, industry and regulators to ensure the technologies can be properly harnessed and standards built in such a way that is beneficial to all stakeholders.

    Maska, who was in turn represented by Mr Bako Wakil, Deputy Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity, NCC, said the NCC was seeking to promote synergy between academia, industry and the regulator.

    He said this was to facilitate innovation, industry growth and sustainability.

    Maska said that technology had become the driving force that was unleashing new ways of doing things in an unprecedented manner.

    According to him, how the telecommunication sector advances and how it does so in a sustainable and ethical way should be the concern of all.

    “As a consequence, the NCC’s vision of what this forum should achieve is that Nigerians become an integral part of the global ICT community; contributing our quota to advances in ICT globally.

    “’Over the years, the industry has experienced a remarkable growth. Recent forecasts by Insight Research Corp. shows that worldwide, telecommunications industry revenue will reach 2.4 trillion dollars in 2019.

    “Consumer demand for the latest wireless devices and higher bandwidth are driving the growth in telecommunications service, while the shift to cloud-based solutions is enriching the value of the networks.

    “A large percentage of business activities now depend on these mobile devices and network applications for everything from electronic commerce to navigation to consumer service.

    “Success I believe usually comes with talent, willpower and hard work in equal measures. The academia has all of these in abundance,” he said.