Driving Technology Development with Research Grants

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has shown tremendous support for research and development across tertiary institutions and has committed over N500 million to Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions as grants to facilitate technology development, writes Emma Okonji

In order to promote technology development through research and development across tertiary institutions, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator has committed as much as N522. 551 million as at the end of 2021 as research grants to tertiary institutions across the country.

According to NCC, each research is designed to deliver a prototype that can be commercialised for the benefit of the industry and consumers.

The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, who disclosed this at a two-day regional roundtable with academia, industry and other stakeholders, in Kano recently, said the funds were committed to research grants to universities and tertiary institutions, including professorial chairs in the universities in salient areas to drive technology development.

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

He said the roundtable organised by the Commission, was to provide the necessary platform to support the commercialisation of locally-developed telecommunications innovations, which the 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, adding that the efforts will ensure overall growth of the industry and create wealth for innovators. All these are fundamental to the objective of the NCC’s research and development oriented programmes, Danbatta further said. On the basis of these, he said ideas, inventions, and improvements that emanate from the academia, were required by the industry for improved efficiency and productivity.

The Impacts

Speaking on the impacts of the grants on academic research and development, 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, Ubale Maska, also disclosed that the Commission had 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 research and development efforts of the Commission were aimed at actualising some of the 8-point Pillar of National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), 2020-2030, focusing on Indigenous Content Development and Adoption.

The Kano regional roundtable, 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 and funding opportunities for prototype development, sustainability and the sale of new products in the market place.

The Goals

Aside the Kano regional roundtable, NCC also extended the roundtable to Lagos region, where it met with academia and industry stakeholders to deliberate further on the importance of technology development and support.

Maska who spoke at the Lagos roundtable, which also held recently, said the overall goal was to share experiences and provide the necessary platform to support the commercialisation locally developed telecommunications innovations which were sponsored by the NCC. This event shows our level of commitment in supporting innovative research and development in collaboration with the academia, Maska said.

The Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity, Bako Wakil, who represented Maska at the Lagos regional roundtable, also delivered Maska’s address.

“Over the years, NCC has awarded several telecom-based research rrants to the academia. In February 2022, held a Research and Prototype Exposition, which brought together universities, professionals and industry experts, to share information and build long-lasting business relationships with the endgame of making those research outputs available in Nigeria marketplace.

“The regional roundtable is structured to include panel discussions and contributions that would aid in the development of an effective framework for commercialising telecommunication-based prototypes resulting from NCC research grants to the academia,” Maska said. 

The panel discussions included: Understanding Commercialisation and Entrepreneurial University Model; Product Viability and Sustainability through Business Model Development & Market Survey; Intellectual Property (IP) Rights and Patents; Investment/Funding Opportunities for Prototype Development and Scalability; and Selling New Products in the Marketplace.

The various sessions will culminate in the development of common framework that will facilitate the commercialisation of the existing prototypes and future research outcomes for the benefit of the economy and the industry, Maska further said.

NCC’s Commitment

Speaking on the commitment of NCC in driving technology development, through research grants, Maska said at the Lagos regional rountable that NCC was committed to working with the academia, industry and other stakeholders to facilitate research, innovation and development that would benefit communications sector and the nation.

Also speaking at the Lagos regional roundtable, which held first week in August, the Chairman, Governing Board of NCC, Prof. Adeolu Akande, said the Lagos regional roundtable would complement that of the Northern regional roundtable, which took place in Kano between July 27 and 28, 2022. The 2022 regional roundtable was targeted at bringing together relevant players and agencies to develop a framework/template commercializing telecommunication-based research prototypes which emanated from NCC research grants to the academia.

“Experience indicates that even the most promising ideas face daunting commercialisation challenges as difficulty always exist between promising concepts and viable products. The Lagos regional roundtable will provide a forum for stakeholders to share experiences and exchange ideas on the best strategies to adopt in commercializing viable innovative research outputs from our academia. I believe our discussions will generate new ideas and strategies for addressing commercializing challenges that confront our researchers.

It is therefore with delight that we welcome you to this all-important forum. I 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. The Commission is committed to funding research activities and building a sound regulatory environment which is critical in supporting growth in other sectors of the economy,” Akande said.

“We strongly appreciate the importance of working with stakeholders to engender innovations and build indigenous technological capabilities that would strengthen the ICT ecosystem; not only in the provision of services, but also in the development of a communications manufacturing and supply sector within the Nigerian economy. 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 further said.

Also at the Lagos regional roundtable, Danbatta who was represented by the Director, Legal and Regulatory Services at NCC, Ms Josephine Amuwa, said the Commission would continue to collaborate with the academia in maximising the contributions of tertiary institutions to innovations and sustainable development of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Industry. 

“At the end of 2021, N522,551,910.27k as research grants to tertiary institutions. Each research is designed to deliver a prototype that can be commercialised for the benefit of the industry and consumers. The focus of this year’s Regional Roundtable is to galvanise all stakeholders to address challenges issues around commercialisation of research prototypes. In this regard, the theme for this year’s roundtable, “The Path from Innovative Research to Commercialisation of Viable Prototypes” is relevant to the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy’s Policy towards achieving indigenous innovation for sustainable development in the Telecommunications sector of the Nigerian economy. 

It has been an exciting experience for me thus far, leading a foremost African Regulatory Agency like the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The Commission has been driving an industry that is now undoubtedly the main catalyst for social and economic transformation in the country,” Danbatta said.

The roundtable is aimed at bringing together resource persons, business savvy industry experts, the academia, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), experts from the Federal Ministry of Technology, entrepreneurs and renowned individuals who have successfully commercialised their inventions. This is to encourage the commercialisation of locally developed telecommunications innovations, which hitherto had been sponsored by the Commission, as a way of fostering and deepening the indigenous technological capabilities of Nigerians, to support the overall growth of the industry and creating wealth for the spin-off companies, Danbatta said.

According to him, “The academia is a key driver of innovation in all spheres of human endeavour. But in specific terms, the ideas, inventions and improvements that emanate from the Academia are required by Industry for improved efficiencies and productivity. With this in mind, the regulator as a critical component of any ecosystem, aims to ensure all stakeholders are protected and the industry nurtured for maximum benefit to business and society.”

Faced with the challenges of Commercialising research prototypes, it is clear that the Commission will have to make a commitment to facilitate the contributions from Academia, by supporting the commercialisation of these prototypes, to deepen the indigenous technological capabilities which would support the overall development of the industry. While appreciable impacts have been achieved since the Commission reinvigorated the award of research grants for the telecommunications-based research innovations from Nigerian academics, it has become imperative to focus on the successful commercialisation of these locally developed telecommunications’ innovations, which is fundamental, to achieving the overall objective of the programme, Danbatta further said.