U.S., UK, Israel, South Africa participants line up for Nigeria Innovation Summit’17

ITRealms:

The 2017 Nigeria Innovation Summit has advanced plans to host the annual event that brings together stakeholders from different sectors of Nigeria's economy to share ideas, trends, and opportunities around technology, innovation and entrepreneurship development in Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

The event scheduled to hold from September 7-8, 2017 at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria, the organisers said is attracting participants from the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, South Africa.

The Summit, according to Emerging Media the organizers, seeks to promote the need for Nigeria to become more innovative and apply innovation across all sectors to drive economic growth and sustainable development through emerging technologies, research & development, entrepreneurship, commercialization and investments as key drivers of an innovation ecosystem.

Speaking on the need for such Summit at this time, Mr. Kenneth Omeruo, MD/CEO, Emerging Media said, “Nigeria has the potentials to be a global economic power if we embrace and invest heavily in technology and innovation. Every sector in Nigeria's economy needs disruptive ideas driven by technology. Right now we are nowhere in the global innovation index and the world is moving at a very high speed. 

It is instructive to note that Tunisia ranked 45^th and Morocco 50^th as the only African countries mentioned in the 2017 Bloomberg Innovation Index, which scores economies using factors including research and development intensity and the concentration of high-tech companies. South Korea, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Finland are the top five countries in that index. I think there is so much to learn from these countries. We should be implementing policies and investments that will encourage technology, innovation and entrepreneurship in Nigeria. The Nigeria Innovation Summit 2017 is offering a platform to engage stakeholders across all sectors on the need for such.”

He further emphasized the urgent need for Nigeria to invest in innovation, research and technology development, in order to become an innovation-driven nation and hence, improve in the Global Innovation Index ranking, attract foreign investments and boost the economy and life of the people.

The 2017 Summit under the theme ‘Transforming Nigeria’s Economy through Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship’, Mr. Omeruo said, provides opportunities for the 36 States, Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government as well as Corporate bodies to showcase their agenda for digital transformation and  innovation agenda.   

He described the Summit as a platform that creates awareness on the need for Open Innovation in Nigeria where the government, industries across all sectors, academia, entrepreneurs collaborate to solve the problems of economic growth in Nigeria.

Also speaking, Mr. Tony Ajah, the Director of Nigeria Innovation Summit  said that the 2-day Summit will feature Keynote Speeches, Panel Discussions, Exhibitions, Workshops, and the Nigeria Innovation Awards. The expected delegates for the Summit are Government Representatives, International Organisations, Investors, Business leaders, CEOs of Companies and Organisations, Innovators, Academics, Start-ups and Entrepreneurs.

The Summit Sessions will cover sub-topics as: How to transform the challenging economy in Nigeria through Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship; How Nigeria can build a sustainable Innovation Ecosystem and become more Innovative; Exploring the Concept of Open Innovation; Innovation in Telecommunications, Infrastructure Development and the Mobile Ecosystem; Innovation in the Manufacturing Industry and Innovation through Emerging Technologies; Big Data, Data Centres, Cloud Computing, IoT, Wearable Technologies, Cyber-security, Robotics, Virtual Reality and Smart Cities.

Other areas are Innovation in Power and Renewable Energy; Innovation in Oil and Gas; Agriculture; Banking, Finance, Funding and Investment; e-Commerce Industry; Small Businesses, Start-ups, Entrepreneurship Community; the Academic Community; Public Health and the Health Industry and Innovation in Media, Public Relations, Social Good and the Entertainment Industry.

Over 400 delegates are expected to attend this year’s Summit. And the Summit offers organizations a platform to connect with these top decision makers, cutting across all sectors of Nigeria's economy.

“We have confirmed international participation from the following organizations: International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM) UK, Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS), South Africa, African Innovation Foundation and great support from Ideation International Inc., USA, and the Israel Start-up Network.

Delegates for this year’s Summit will learn from leading innovation ecosystems around the world and from innovation experts who will facilitate the sessions. “The States have an opportunity to showcase and promote her innovation at the Summit. So, we urge them to visit www.innovationsumit.ng for more details.

We are proud to announce CIHAN Group, operators of Digitalprwire as our official Media and PR Agency for this year’s Summit.  We have seen their robust and disruptive work and platform for digital innovation in Africa and are convinced of a great outcome working together.

Ayo Midele/GEE

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Pix: L-R): Rosemary Agu, Direct Sales Manager, DigitalPR-Wire; Tony Ajah, Director, Nigeria Innovation Summit; Loveth Igbo, Project Executive; Nigeria Innovation Summit; and Samuel Salami, Director, Operations, DigitalPR-Wire, during a press conference to announce preparations of the Summit, held in Lagos on Tuesday, May 24, 2017.