The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), says it has recorded more than 60 innovations at the just concluded Science and technology Expo.
Mrs Akinkunmi Yejide, the Director, Technology, Innovation and Commercialisation, Department of NOTAP, stated this on Thursday during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
Yejide stated that Nigerian researchers and innovators being mindful of the current COVID-19 pandemic came up with ideas and innovations that would help the country fight the pandemic.
“ The COVID-19 pandemic posed some challenges in the world and Nigeria is not left out.
“ On that note, NOTAP was able to collate some data on latest inventions and some COVID-19 related innovations,’’ she said.
She said NOTAP was hoping to collaborate with some of the inventions and educate them on acquiring patents.
“ COVID-19 is a new phenomenon; a lot of inventions are coming up in the area so educating researchers and innovators that patenting is required
“ NOTAP is present here at the EXPO to collate data on innovations and inventions, some of which are COVID-19 related and how we can partner with the innovators.
She disclosed that NOTAP also assists inventors with profiting from such research and inventions.
According to the director, there are a lot of inventions but the authors are yet to protect their inventions.
“It is also the responsibility of NOTAP to sensitise them on patenting their inventions and commercialising it by connecting them with technology partners who would adopt such technologies.’’
She said NOTAP’s responsibility was to also guide inventors and fine-tune some inventions because not all of the inventions were new and could be approved.
“ At NOTAP, we act as a regulatory and a guide to innovators, we ensure that inventors are bonafide owner of their inventions so as to checkmate recycling and duplicating research efforts,’’ she said.
She stated that NOTAP’s core mandate was to regulate the inflow of foreign technology because some of these multinationals approach NOTAP to partner or adopt some local innovations.
“ While seeking foreign partners or market for such inventions, NOTAP evaluates such technology transfer agreement in three perspectives, legal, economic and technical perspectives.
“ In the legal perspective, the office ensures that the provisions of the agreements are in line with the laws of the land while the economic perspective is to ensure that services being rendered are commensurate with the fees payable.
“ The technical consideration is to ensure that the agreement has provision for capacity building and knowledge transfer,’’ she said.
NAN reports that some of the innovations at the Science and technology EXPO 2021 were research efforts of some individuals or institutions in the Electrical sector, Mechanical sector, Chemical, Pharmaceuticals and Agro-allied sectors.
There were also COVID-19 related innovations like the automatic hand-washing machines, disinfectant booths, among others. (NAN)