By Our Correspondent<\/p>\n
The National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI) has showcased 298 Nigerian innovators from the 36 states and FCT to global investors in London as part of efforts to commercialise homegrown technologies.<\/p>\n
The innovators featured at the 2026 NextGen Innovation Challenge grand finale, which drew entrepreneurs, investors, government officials and diplomats to explore investment and international collaboration opportunities.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the event, the NBTI Director-General, Dr. Kazeem Kolawole Raji said innovation and technology commercialisation are critical to Nigeria’s $1 trillion economy ambition.<\/p>\n
“A one-trillion-dollar economy cannot be built by government alone. It must be built by Nigerians who innovate, Nigerians who manufacture, Nigerians who invest, Nigerians who create intellectual property, Nigerians who build enterprises,” he said.<\/p>\n
Raji said the Challenge was designed to bridge the gap between ideas and market, linking innovators with investors and global markets. Participation rose from 105 last year to 298 this year.<\/p>\n
He commended the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigerian High Commission in the UK, British High Commission and strategic partner UKALD for supporting the initiative.<\/p>\n
“Today is a celebration, but tomorrow is the real test,” he said, urging innovators to build, commercialise, scale and take Nigerian innovation global.<\/p>\n
Delivering a keynote on behalf of Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the UK, Ambassador Aminu Dalhatu, Ambassador Abu Obey Eche said London, as a global finance and tech hub, offers a strategic platform for Nigerian talent.<\/p>\n
“Diplomacy today must go beyond governments speaking to governments. It must also connect businesses to markets, innovators to investors, researchers to institutions, and Nigerian opportunities to global capital,” he said.<\/p>\n
Eche said the High Commission is committed to opening doors for local innovators and urged Nigerians in the diaspora to deploy capital and expertise to support emerging entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
An investor, Ms. Erin Grover said she was impressed, particularly by women-led innovations, and expressed interest in investing.<\/p>\n
“I think there are some inspiring women here especially who I’ve been able to speak with today, and I definitely hope to invest in at least one of them coming out of this event,” she said.<\/p>\n
“My one piece of unsolicited advice is to just never give up ever, be persistent as hell, keep going,” she told participants.<\/p>\n
Chairman of APC UK and Executive Director of UKALD, Hon. Tunde Doherty, said the 298 innovations on display were investment-ready products, not just ideas, and urged investors to look to Nigeria for technology investment.<\/p>\n
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, Dr. Mukhtar Muhammad, also commended NBTI for expanding the platform and pledged stronger ministry support.<\/p>\n
“If there is a problem in the society and you identify that problem and you try to solve it, you are making more impact to the society than someone who is doing several degrees in university,” he said.<\/p>\n
The event marks an expansion from 105 innovators last year to 298 this year, with organisers targeting tangible outcomes in business creation, commercial partnerships, investment deals and jobs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent The National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI) has showcased 298 Nigerian innovators from the 36 states and FCT to global investors in London as part of efforts to commercialise homegrown technologies. The innovators featured at the 2026 NextGen Innovation Challenge grand finale, which drew entrepreneurs, investors, government officials and diplomats to explore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18380"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18381,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18380\/revisions\/18381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}