Technology and digitisation are the bedrock of every thriving digital economy, spanning both advanced and emerging national economies. The transformative power of digital technology is having wide-ranging impacts on business in its entire ramification.

Globally, digital technology is accepted as one of the single most powerful enablers of innovation, entrepreneurship and competitiveness in all spheres of human activity. It is creating innovations in business models and also enhancing some of them extensively, within the purview of prevailing realities.

New businesses are forcing traditional players to reinvent themselves to stay afloat. This means that conventional entrepreneurship (creating products and services for a profit) is being replaced by alternative digital innovations, operating models and work practices.

As such, for businesses to remain competitive in the burgeoning digital economy, they have no choice than to develop strategies for guaranteed efficiency, productivity and healthy staff/customer experience.

Digital innovation and entrepreneurship are the leading catalysts of rapid economic growth in countries that have adopted the digital economy. This combination has helped to improve communication, collaboration, access to international markets and networking among businesses.

Entrepreneurs are adopting emerging digital technologies to achieve value addition in the products and services they offer to consumers. A large number of these consumers are increasingly relocating from the physical market place to e-commerce platforms.

Key drivers of transformation across the digital economy space include, but are not limited to: the Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain technology, Robotics, Quantum Computing, Virtual/Augmented Reality, among other emerging technologies.
The global digital economy is estimated to be worth about $30 trillion and there are projections it could generate about 123 million jobs by 2030.

In Africa, Nigeria is one of the few countries that is demonstrating an unwavering commitment to sustaining the enabling environment to entrench innovation and entrepreneurship.

So, the recent commissioning of the National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (NDI&EC) in Abuja, another project of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has further confirmed that Nigeria’s digital transition from the traditional economy to a digital economy is on course.
The minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami performed the groundbreaking with the support of dignitaries from the public and private organisations.
As a strategic area of focus, the ministry has the responsibility of positioning Nigeria to achieve seamless digital transformation through the provision of policies to spur more Nigerian entrepreneurs tap into the prosperity of the digital economy.

The National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre represent the actualization of the federal government’s economic diversification initiatives and generating jobs and employment for the teeming young population as outlined in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

Designed and constructed to close the gap between the industry and academia, the centre has the objective of replicating practical industry environment suitable for developing technology and innovations for achieving an indigenous digital economy.

According to Director-General of NITDA, Inuwa Abdullahi Kashifu, the core objectives of the centre include serving as a catalyst for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in public and private sector organisations; fostering development in emerging technologies and provision of enabling environment for technology startups to accelerate relevant innovations.

In addition, the centre would provide enabling environment for the promotion of advanced and applied research in Information and Communication Technology (ICT); and equipping indigenous businesses to become world-class service providers.

Again, the centre is expected to serve as a research hub for technology stakeholders based on Work, Live, Play and Learn concept to foster creative idea integration and accelerate innovation in a highly collaborative and immersive setting.

To realise the objectives that informed its establishment, modern facilities have are being put in place to create the ideal atmosphere needed to inspire logical, innovative, result-focused and solution-based deliberations among tech enthusiasts.

Key facilities in the centre include a Co-Working Space where innovative Nigerians would collaborate and brainstorm on common areas of interest in ICT through peer learning and knowledge sharing.

For the provision of technological advisories and training for indigenous businesses and institutions, the Business Research and Innovation Space is well equipped to serve as a meeting place for startups and potential investors.

Also, the centre houses many other state-of-the-art facilities among which are an Information Technology (IT) Museum; Demo Laboratories (for exhibitions of emerging technologies); R&D Hi-tech showrooms; Media Studio and R&D Hi-tech showrooms.
Other facilities in the centre comprise a Smart Data Centre; Network Operation Centre; Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Centre (CERRT) and Storage area/Archives to ensure Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability of official documents.
Sporting and recreational facilities (Gymnasium, Snooker, Table Tennis etc); a penthouse is available as a relaxation area for innovators and entrepreneurs that are likely to be working in the Centre for a prolonged period; while a Sick Bay will be fully equipped to operate 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Incidentally, the facilities in the Centre will be fully automated to simplify activities and make the environment comfortable and efficient for stakeholders to experience productive connections.

In view of the foregoing, the NITDA and its parent ministry have once again taken another giant stride in their march to the successful implementation of our digital economy.

This National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre and the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, launched in October 2020, represent a genuine consolidation of the digital transformation in Nigeria.
Indeed, it is heartwarming to know that plans are underway to site similar centres of in all the geo-political zones of the country to enable participation of more Nigerians in the globally-acclaimed MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme (MIT-REAP).

These centres are going to provide opportunities for communities to engage with MIT in an evidence-based, practical approach to strengthening innovation-driven entrepreneurial (IDE) ecosystems in the country.

More importantly, emphasis must be placed on regular training and re-skilling of workforces in the public and private sectors through well-articulated policies to always evaluate the design and quality of such training courses.

In all of these, it is apparent that the re-designation of the former Communications ministry into the current Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy is yielding the desired stimulus for prosperity national development.

Inyene Ibanga is Managing Editor of TechDigest, Wuye District, Abuja.

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TECH DIGEST – Over the years, United Nations system plays a leading role in promoting science and technology to sustain nations’ development. Technology, in particular, is one of the keys to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), along with finances, human resources, and capacity building. In the last couple of years, Nigeria seems to be on the right track to become one of the leading digital economy nations, considering the steps taken so far by the champion of Digital Economy in the country, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), FNCS, FBCS, FIIM, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.

Months after President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) developed by Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Agencies under its supervision and of course the full hand of ICT stakeholders in the country, Nigeria moved into action to execute numerous projects that aligned with pillars of the documents to drive innovation, ideation and promotion of the sector. To say the least, the Ministry commissioned various digital centres across the country’s geo-political zones in order to provide enabling environment for startups to create jobs, wealth and prosperity.

Last week, the Federal Government of Nigeria, through National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), under the supervision of Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, laid a foundation to establish a world class and Africa’s first National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre, in Abuja, in a move to transit from the traditional economy and make digital economy seamless, which is in line with the NDEPS.

The Centre will create the required environment for Nigeria’s teaming youths; encourage innovation and indigenisation of technologies. Indigenisation of technologies will help address the continuous reliance on foreign products and services which has negative impact on the country’s economy. The Centre will also serve as a bridge between the Government, industry, and the academia in providing research environment for creativity, idea integration, collaborative environment, development of ICT policies, processes and strategies.

It will be equipped with facilities that can be used to develop inquisitive perspective, create opportunities for entrepreneurs to become potential employers of labour, rather than just employees. Furthermore, it will focus on promotion and development in ICT which include advanced and applied research; development in emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), Quantum Computing and also Smart Energy Solutions to drive ICT. In addition, the Centre will allow startups to accelerate and experience innovations at scale, through customized visits, design thinking sessions and co-innovation workshops thereby creating a highly collaborative & immersive environment.

Furthermore, the Centre, will serve as a hub for the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme (MIT-REAP) programme, is aimed at creating an innovative ecosystem based on Work, Live, Play and Learn concept. This will focus on creating a unique platform for Tech Skills, Soft Skills and Entrepreneurship Development. This will facilitate the creation of an enabling environment that would inspire, connect, encourage, and support technology startups and entrepreneurs towards innovation and indigenisation of technologies. The Centre will also serve as a link to technology hubs across the country to foster innovation and knowledge-based ventures, thereby boosting the capacity to create jobs and provide employment for our teaming youth, in line with Mr President’s economic diversification initiatives as outlined in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan. This is yet another giant stride of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration towards the realisation of the vision of transforming Nigeria into a leading digital economy, providing quality life and digital economies for all.

Dr Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, during ground breaking ceremony of the Centre, commented that Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship are globally recognized as two prerequisites for achieving an indigenous Digital Economy. As such, a successful digital innovation and entrepreneurship programme will support Nigeria in the development of its digital economy and this is exactly what the Centre aims to achieve.

“High speed and affordable Internet connectivity serve as catalysts for innovation and they stimulate the growth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This inspired us to develop a Nigerian National Broadband Plan (2020 – 2025). Again, President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled and launched the Policy on the 19th of March 2020, in his characteristic commitment to Nigeria’s Digital economy. This support has motivated us and has led to significant developments in the sector. The growth of the sector resulted in an increased contribution of ICT to Nigeria’s GDP, reaching an unprecedented value of 17.83% in Q2 ‘2020 according to National Bureau for Statistics,” the minister said.

Pantami further stated that the groundbreaking ceremony of the National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre is another giant leap towards the development of Nigeria’s digital economy and diversification of the country’s economy, which in turn will be a boost to the development of National Policy on Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

To buttress Dr Pantami’s assertion, the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, stated that the speed at which Nigeria is moving, can be seen, and the achievements are so far encouraging. Today Digital Economy is the fastest growing economy in Nigeria and in the World at large. Accordingly, to provide sustainable development and consolidate the growth in the country, there is need to ignite innovation and entrepreneurship in the digital space, this is why National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre is being established.

Mallam Abdullahi added that Digital economy is mainly driven by rapid business innovation, using digital technology to deliver new customer value proposition, new business model, new organizational structure, new customer experience, operational excellence and enhanced products and services. This cannot be achieved in isolation; innovation ecosystem is equally needed.

“Innovation is a process of taking idea from inception to impact. To express it in a mathematical formula innovation is invention multiply by commercialization. It is a product of invention and commercialization. This means innovation is zero when invention is zero or when commercialisation is zero. You must have the two to be innovative. Commercialisation is about entrepreneurship, it is about starting and growing a new business,” he opined.

Mubarak Umar writes from Abuja

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