No fewer than 18 polytechnic lecturers drawn from across the country have successfully completed a training programme on Research for Impact initiative put in place by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the training programme in Abuja on Friday, Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, said the initiative organised in collaboration with Innov8 Hub, is aimed at promoting innovation and viable research in higher education institutions.
Echono, who said Nigeria cannot afford to be left behind in technological development, posited that technological development holds the massive key to overcoming challenges bedevilling the country.
“The world has witnessed tremendous transformation with technology at the center stage, transforming lives, creating jobs, and impacting nations. Most great nations that have developed were able to attain such heights through education, technological evolution as well as a revolution that was all steeped in an insatiable quest for knowledge.
“This thirst for better ways of doing things has resulted in innovations that brought about the development of new technologies, new products, transformations in the telecommunication industry, and new ways of existence.
“The emergence of the digital age’ has presented the world with no alternative than to adapt to the emerging realities. Consequently, nations and citizens are compelled to either develop or remain as second-class nations that would continuously depend on and serve other nations that have advanced through learning and impactful research,” Echono said.
While appreciating Innov8 Hub for its willingness to partner with TETFund to propagate and advance an innovation ecosystem in the Nigerian tertiary education sphere, Echono pledged the commitment of the agency to continue to invest in research as the foundation for Nigeria’s emergence as a knowledge-based economy.
“At TETFund, we established a Research and Development/ Centres of Excellence Department to drive the institutionalization of Research & Development in public tertiary institutions, enhance research capacity, and support Research-Industry, among others. The Research for Impact Workshop is one of the programmes aimed at supporting market-driven research for national development.
“At this point, it is important to use this opportunity to restate TETFund’s commitment to promote the commercialization of viable R&D results and patents. This should serve as a further incentive to the Teams to take their prototype to the next phase,” he said.
-Punch
