Seventh national innovation summit holds October 4

The seventh Nigeria Innovation Summit (NIS) is to hold from October 4 to 8. Themed, ‘Re-imagining Innovation’ the event that would stretch into the Nigeria Innovation Week (NIW), brings together stakeholders from different sectors of the economy to discuss ground-breaking ideas, trends, opportunities and numerous verticals to accelerate innovation, attain global competitiveness and explore innovative approaches to fix existing problems, redundant economic playbooks, systems and structures.

Since inception, NIS has recorded thousands of participants, cutting across governments, industry leaders, founders, lawmakers, policymakers, C-suites, foreign diplomats and key stakeholders, to steer pertinent conversations around innovation, research and development, emerging technologies, frontier markets and industrial disruptions occurring in Nigeria and other African countries.

Commenting on this year’s edition, Programme Director at NIS, Tony Ajah, observed: “For the very first time, we’re extending the summit across a week because we believe the usual two-day event may not thoroughly reflect how innovation and digital technology is causing rapid acceleration across different sectors of the economy. It is indicative that Nigeria and other emerging nations have recognised digital transformation, emerging technologies, research and development, commercialisation, entrepreneurship and investments as key value drivers of an innovative ecosystem. It is now time to embrace these value drivers and NIS will create the much-needed momentum to explore open innovation in Africa.”

While a Partner at NIS, Grace Akinosun, said innovation remains a non-exhaustive topic globally, she added: “In today’s world, it has become a necessity rather than an option, for corporations, governments and emerging businesses to thrive and keep up with changing dynamics.”

The NIS was designed to be springboard of insights that challenges stakeholders to begin leveraging innovation for global competitiveness and digital acceleration.