NBTI launches NEXTGEN 2026 to drive $billions in global tech investment into Nigeria

Kazeem Raji, Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Board for Technology Incubation, has unveiled the NEXTGEN Innovation Challenge 2026, a platform designed to accelerate technology-driven entrepreneurship and attract billions of dollars in global investment into Nigeria’s fast-growing innovation ecosystem.

Launched at a world press conference in Abuja, the initiative is structured to connect Nigerian innovators with international investors, development finance institutions, multilateral agencies and private sector partners, positioning Nigeria as a leading technology-driven and knowledge-based economy in Africa.

Raji described NEXTGEN 2026 as a defining national platform that will mobilise capital, fast-track the commercialisation of ideas and strategically position the country as Africa’s undisputed innovation powerhouse.

He emphasised that the initiative goes beyond a conventional competition, portraying it instead as a catalyst for national development and a global platform for innovation diplomacy.

According to him, the challenge is designed to transform promising ideas into viable, globally competitive businesses while strengthening Nigeria’s drive for economic diversification.

Raji commended President Bola Tinubu for prioritising innovation under his administration’s economic reform agenda and Nigeria First Policy.

He noted that the President’s reforms have repositioned innovation as a central pillar of national development, redefining Nigeria’s economic architecture towards a knowledge-driven economy powered by intellectual capital and technological advancement.

“Innovation is the new oil,” Raji said, stressing that the nation’s future prosperity will depend more on ideas, technology and intellectual property than on extractive resources.

Organised by NBTI in partnership with UK-based consultancy firm UKALD, NEXTGEN 2026 will feature innovation boot camps beginning in Abuja, with the grand finale scheduled for October 2026 at the ExCeL Centre in London.

Raji explained that the programme is designed to move innovators “from laboratories to livelihoods, from prototypes to products, and from ideas to commercial success.”

He said: “The initiative will host international editions in Doha, Qatar, targeting Middle East investors and sovereign wealth funds, as well as in London, which will serve as the global flagship platform.

The challenge will prioritise high-impact sectors aligned with Nigeria’s development agenda and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including artificial intelligence and robotics, advanced semiconductors, telecommunications powered by 6G and AI integration, green and renewable energy, climate resilience and flood detection systems, agri-tech, health-tech, edu-tech, women-focused and gender-inclusive innovation, as well as virtual reality and 3D manufacturing.”

Raji added that the programme is structured to unlock climate finance, attract foreign direct investment and scale environmentally sustainable innovations capable of delivering measurable economic impact.

NBTI also disclosed plans to deepen collaboration with institutions such as the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and the Commonwealth Investment Network to broaden access to structured capital and alternative financing mechanisms.

Raji said it is designed not merely to showcase ideas but to unlock capital at scale and generate tangible economic outcomes.

He urged Nigerian universities to prioritise the commercialisation of research findings, encouraged investors to provide structured funding to startups and challenged young Nigerians to regard their ideas as national assets capable of transforming the country’s economic future.