UNN to empower student techies at National Innovation Summit

The University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) through Lion Science Park is organising the maiden UNN-National Innovation Summit and first-ever university-led competition for start-ups tagged “Venture Cup Nigeria”.

The start-up competition will guarantee seed funding of various amounts to be won as prizes at regional and national levels. Winner at the Grand finale takes home equity-free funding of One Million Naira (N1,000,000); while the first runner-up and second runner-up will win  Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N500,000) and Three Hundred Naira (N300,000) respectively. At the (six) geopolitical zonal levels: winners, first runners-up and second runners-up will go home with Three Hundred Thousand Naira (N300,000), One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N150,000) and One Hundred Thousand Naira (N100,000) respectively.

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UNN has no doubt become a model university setting the pace in technological innovation in Nigeria having established the first university-based Science Park – Lion Science Park; the first university-based incubator hub, Roar Nigeria Hub, and the first university-based laptop assembly line, Lion Gadgets and Technologies Ltd. propelled by these innovative strides, the university has announced the National Innovation Summit from 6th to 8th of June, 2019 at the Nsukka campus of the University.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Lion Science Park, Professor Benjamin C. Ozumba stated that the major goal of the Venture Cup Nigeria competition is to stimulate students of tertiary institutions to begin to think innovation and entrepreneurship as the way to go and to be competitive in the wake of the fourth industrial revolution. He added that the prizes are to support student-led innovative ideas to takeoff. This will aid easy identification of promising startups for innovation across the tertiary institutions in Nigeria”, he further stated.

The Manager of Lion Science Park, Chinwe Okoli announced that “the competition is open to innovative ideas from all sectors and for students from all higher institutions in Nigeria. However, the best ideas for this competition need to be technology-enabled. This is to encourage the use of technology in providing innovative solutions. Commenting on the Lion Science Park Marathon, she stated that Run to innovate is a symbolic exercise to clear our heads and unleash the energy for big innovative ideas. It will hold in Nsukka.”

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Join the race for the future! The Run to Innovate Marathon also have prizes to be won – fifty thousand naira (N50,000); Thirty Thousand naira (N30,000) and Twenty thousand naira (N20,000) for the first, second and third positions respectively. There will be lots of consolation prizes as well.

The Director of Innovation, University of Nigeria, Jude Chukwu reveals that the 2019 UNN-National Innovation Summit with a theme, ‘Catching-up with the Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Role of Innovation’ aims to inspire and facilitate dialogue on the smart, safe, sustainable and innovative ways of ensuring a paradigm shift to a knowledge-based, collaborative and entrepreneurial economy as the country prepares for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The Innovation Summit will play host to policymakers, top entrepreneurs, student entrepreneurs, government representatives, MDAs, innovation hubs and accelerators, innovation networks, business moguls, angel investors, international organizations, donor agencies, researchers/academics, innovators, inventors, start-ups etc.