Nigerian higher institutions look like relics when compared to their peers in Asia registering patents for technologies of the future, writes ISAAC ANYAOGU.
University of Ibadan, Chinese Academy of Sciences – a tale of two computer science labs
If you attended a Nigerian university, chances are that you graduated about as skilled as a soldier trained to wield a javelin in a world where wars are fought with precision guided firearms.
With lecture halls lacking electrical sockets and some Masters degree students compelled to produce handwritten research works, Nigerian Universities look like relics when compared to their peers in America, Asia and Europe registering patents for artificial intelligence, block chain technologies,5G network.
The rest of the world is leaving Nigeria behind in the race for innovative technologies that will shape tomorrow. Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese universities are emerging global leaders in patents for wireless communication, blockchain, and Internet of Things (IoT), beating even peers from the United States according to a study by GreyB Services, a leading technology research and intelligence firm.
Emerging technologies
Analysts at Bain, a global management consultancy found that the market value of Internet of Things, a technology that enhances interconnectivity of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, will reach over $520bn by 2021 allowing users greater control overtheir devices and providing increased security through voice command and a personal assistant.
Automation, or the use of electronics and computer-controlled devices to control processes previously handled by humans, is on the rise. The industrial control and factory automation market is likely to reach $269.5 billion by 2024 from $160.0 billion in 2018 says analysts at ResearchAndMarkets, a leading global research firm. Technology is leaving the sphere of large-scale manufacturing to simple process including operation at consumer stores. Through automationAmazon has eliminated the need for cashiers.
The rise of Bitcoin in 2017 has thrust cryptocurrency into the mainstream causing major disruption in the financial world. A study by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance showed that by the end of 2017, there were 18 million users participating in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, now they show there are 35 million users.
Blockchain, used to describe the decentralized ledger that holds together cryptocurrencies, now has diversified applications from financial transactions to common business processes. A 2019 World Economic Forum survey found that 10percent of global GDP will be stored on block chain by 2027.
Through Artificial Intelligence, machines now have abilities including speech recognition, learning, planning and problem solving, once the exclusive preserve of humans. Academic institutions, large corporations and cyber security firms have begun to adopt artificial neural networks and the market is expected to grow from $21.46 Billion in 2018 to USD 190.61 Billion by 2025 according to researchers at MarketsandMarkets, a US-based research firm drawing insight from 200,000 markets around the world.
Major drivers for the market are growing big data, the increasing adoption of cloud-based applications and services, and increasing demand for intelligent virtual assistants.
New knowledge
In preparation for this future, foreign nations are tweaking their curriculum, ramping funding into research and retooling their institutions to respond to these changes.
In China for example, primary and secondary schools teach AI courses in classrooms and technology companies are building personalised learning platforms with AI. In Nigeria, high school students stare at laptop computer with a sense of wonder.
The result is that universities in these countries are competing with corporations to churn out patents. According to China State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) several higher institutions such as Zhejiang University, Shenzhen University and Chinese Academy of Sciences are on course to obtain patents related to blockchain applications developed on campus.
Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Sciences is eyeing a blockchain system that can “simultaneously support public, private and consortium block chains. Shenzhen University is pursuing a patent related to a specific use case – intellectual property rights for artists – which uses the technology as a means to tag and trace works to create a tamper-proof artwork trading system.
In AI, 17 of the top 20 universities and public research organizations are in China, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences topping the list, according to a new data byGeneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). Overall, American universities still dominate patent rankings, led by the University of California and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
WIPO data further show an increase in AI-based innovations though it found that companies were far more active than universities and other public research institutions in filing AI-related patents, accounting for 26 out of the 30 top applicants in the field.
“There has been a quantum leap since about 2013,” Francis Gurry, WIPO chief told reporters in Geneva.
Nigeria lags
In 2018, three Nigerian universities- Covenant University, University of Ibadan, and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka – were included in the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings which featured 1,250 universities in 86 countries. BusinessDay inquiries at these institutions indicate that none of them has a functional programme on wireless technology.
None of Nigeria’s 170 universities has a patent for wireless technology or in any of the emerging technologies. In the evolving world, patents in cassava blending technology may no longer suffice.
Some African countries are striving harder in this regard. Wits University in South Africa teaches AI, Morroco does too and Google is opening an AI lab in Ghana.
“Nigerian universities at this point are struggling to modernise and equip their computer science laboratories. Some of the universities are still not able to introduce and use basic technology in the classroom,” Terae Onyeje, managing director, Wowbii Limited, a company producing technologies for class instruction said.
The implication is grave. These technologies are forecasted to cut half of white and blue collar jobs in as little as five years. Many of the courses taught in Nigeria’s universities will be overtaken by automation and many Nigerian students could be excluded fromthe new digital economy.
Emmanuel Mkporjiogu, head of department Computer Science Department, Veritas University, Abuja said curriculum is a concern as administrators regard artificial intelligence as a component of computer science.
“Artificial intelligence comprises natural language, voice and text processing. It also includes robotics, machine learning and big data analytics. These things are not taught in our universities,” said Mkporjiogu.
“NUC needs to invite professionals who understand current AI trends to review the curriculum,” Mkporjiogu said.
Unlike in Europe, Asia and America where corporate labs turn out commercially successful inventions partnering universities, corporate Nigeria relies on talent from abroad for basic services. Google x, a corporate lab established by Google created self-driving cars but Nigerian universities are incapable of forging such partnerships as curriculum does not fit modern realities. The huge training cost of Nigerian banks for new hires speaks to a crisis in the education sector.
While public universities are too poorly motivated to think innovation, funding constraints private ones. The average wage bill of a medium-sized private university per annum is about N500 million. Setting up a well-equipped electronic engineering department costs about N80 million and profit is strictly a game of numbers. It takes at least a decade to have the number of students needed to break even, administrators say.
With shoestring education budget, education does not rank high in government’s list of priorities. Parents who want their children to be competitive would get better value abandoning Nigeria’s universities for institutions that provide practical knowledge in these emerging technologies.
Nigeria’s education budget cannot deliver value
Nigeria’s education budget compares poorly with China’s, who spent nearly 4.3 trillion Yuan ($675.3 billion) on education in 2017, an increase of 9.43percent from 2016. Nigeria has not dent UNESCO recommendation on 26percent budget spend for education. Even those hired to manage education are not the most qualified. The current Chinese minister of education is an academic administrator; Nigeria’s education minister is a journalist.
The future belongs to countries where businesses have successfully built incubators and innovation-focused research labs and partner with universities to establish creative solutions for problems that impact companies and consumers in big ways.
However, the beauty of technology is that late comers can leverage its innovative power to leapfrog early adopters. Nigeria can catch-up by setting up a national education plan, updating current curriculum and cutting down military spending to boast education budget. Tomorrow’s insurgents are often those poorly educated today.
University lecturers who teach graduate students entrepreneurship and management skills often shut down universities to protest poor wages. They must betasked to apply what they teach by creatively sourcing revenue to improve their own welfare.
Foreign universities build Alumni networks, set up endowment funds and strike up partnerships with corporations where they supply skill and knowledge in exchange for money and employment opportunities for their students. Nigerian lecturers should now be tasked to be inventive rather than fighting over wages like peasants.
Malcom x said the future belongs to those who prepare for it, Nigeria is not preparing hard enough.
