The Destination Is The Improvement Of Our Society (P1)
The Destination Is The Improvement Of Our Society (P1)
Nigeria's University of Lagos is home to an emerging culture of innovation, propelled by impressive research output.
Key Takeaways
Nigeria’s University of Lagos is pressing ahead with ambitious innovation and commercialization plans, refusing to let infrastructure challenges prevent them from solving pressing social and economic challenges.
ITMO is led by faculty member Dr. Abiodun Gbenga-Ilori, a communications engineer passionate about innovation and its positive impact on society. “I can tell you firsthand that our students and staff are very talented; I feel that it is important to encourage them and tell them ‘we will support you.'”
Innovation is headquartered within the Innovation and Technology Management Office (ITMO), where researchers, staff, and students receive support from the inception of ideas to commercialization.
Resources include the Fab Lab (fabrication lab), the UNILAG Design Studio (in collaboration with Rice University), AiRoL (AI and Robotics Lab), the newly commissioned ITMO Innovation Hub, and NITHub (collaborative workspace).
23 patents have been filed since 2018 among staff and students. There is a successful startup, with two others in the pipeline
We interviewed Dr. Abiodun Gbenga-Ilori of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) as part of our series on the development of innovation ecosystems. She was appointed to UNILAG’s Innovation and Technology Management Office (ITMO) in 2021.
Dr. Gbenga-Ilori gained her PhD in Electrical Engineering (Communications Engineering Option) from the University of Ilorin in 2010. She researches and lectures in communication engineering as a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
The Groundbreakers (TGB): You need to be passionate to do this sort of work. Simply put, research and innovation is fundamental to improving society. In that context, managing ITMO is no small task. Tell us about your interest in innovation and your work in the Technology and Management Office.
Dr. Abiodun Gbenga-Ilori (AGI): The confidence the university showed in me stems from my career-long interest in research and innovation, and my background is well-suited to heading up the unit, including my own efforts to innovate based on my research.
TGB: From Google Maps I can see images of the outside of the ITMO office but I am very interested to know about the infrastructure you’re working with, even including exactly where you’re located with respect to related infrastructure on campus.
AGI: Research and Innovation were once housed together beside the library, beginning with the research arm, which is very vibrant. In 2021, research attracted over 2 billion naira (approx. USD$4.3 million) based on 97 research grants.
Formalizing the innovation arm as a standalone office happened after the research arm was well-established. That process began in 2017 and began modestly, supporting inventors with prototype development. Expansion of the mandate soon followed to include UNILAG’s technology transfer processes, and from there to become a full administrative office known as the Innovation and Technology Management Office (ITMO) in 2019.
Unfortunately, that coincided with the onset of COVID. As a result it wasn’t until 2022 that ITMO was operationalized.
With regard to innovation infrastructure, it must be thought of as a process including supporting infrastructure for each step in the process, from ideation to impact. That means offering management and physical infrastructure support from inception to true development.
Innovation inception correlates with research; there are 19 research centres at UNILAG and three research institutes. Roughly 50 research groups use those resources for research, testing ideas, concepts, hypothesis etc.
As teams work toward proofs of concept there are hubs and labs. A non-exhaustive list includes the Fab Lab (fabrication lab), the UNILAG Design Studio (in collaboration with Rice University), AiRoL (AI and Robotics Lab), the newly commissioned ITMO Innovation Hub, and NITHub (collaborative workspace).
As these resources produce results, ITMO is geared up to provide intellectual infrastructure in the form of technology transfer support (IP filings, product exhibitions, and partner with the Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Centre) toward commercialization.
TGB: There is a clear connection in mission between ITMO and the Entrepreneur Skill Development Centre. How are you integrated and connected?
AGI: We see the path from research to innovation and from there to commercialization, so from the very beginning both ITMO and ESDC are involved with researchers. It is important for researchers to understand that you can’t make an impact-which is the goal-without truly working on something innovative.
We also provide guidance in areas like selecting commercialization models, because there are circumstances where the researcher might need to incorporate financial models into their grant applications.
When research appears to be on an impactful, innovative track, we work on gaining the IP rights. We will also arrange university funding for prototype development to accelerate along the path to being commercially ready.
At that point the ESDC plays a major role helping the researcher develop a business model and begin the startup process.
TGB: It sounds like UNILAG has a lovely internal process. As you move from prototyping toward commercialization the work might begin to go beyond the confines of the university. How robust is the Lagos innovation ecosystem?
AGI: We are not there yet but we are progressing. We have done a lot within the last few years based on the number of patents and a new startup. But the innovation ecosystem is still new; we are still bringing people into the University of Lagos innovation system, still building awareness among students and faculty, and ironing out challenges. While we are not there yet, we are tapping into a large opportunity and we are indeed progressing.
TGB: How do you measure success? How do you know if things are working or not-what metrics are you using now?
AGI: Definitely patents is one our progress measurements, 23 patents have been filed since 2018 among staff and students. There is also a successful startup, with two others in the pipeline.
The destination is the improvement of our society, not the number of patents filed.
Dr. Abiodun Gbenga-Ilori
It is important to note that we don’t really want to accumulate patents without being able to take something to the community-we really want to be able to impact society because at the end of the day that is where innovation ends. The destination is the improvement of our society, not the number of patents filed.
TGB: What is the story you tell people when you want to explain the mission and purpose animating what you do?
AGI: In my capacity heading ITMO and having presided over numerous cases, I can tell you firsthand that our students and staff are very talented, so I feel like it is important to encourage them and tell them ‘we will support you.’
I am a communications engineer, so I love talking to students about Alexander Graham Bell. It’s an inspiring story given all he went through before his breakthrough. He was able to climb his own personal mountains; he struggled for almost a decade to get his idea off the ground. Even after that he faced bureaucracy and legal challenges to finally gain the patent for his invention of the telephone.
So I always tell people when they come to our office: “We can help you achieve all of these, without all the stress Bell had to endure, alone, at the age of twenty-nine. I tell my staff and students, you are not too young to file a patent. We have the infrastructure in this office, we have research labs, we have trainings, exhibitions, prototype funding. The patent battle can be avoided through our office, we file IP rights for them, we support our inventors by finding the right commercialization model. We have the resources here to support you.
