ABOUT US
About Us
EFAY-Org is an organization (NGO) established in 2011 and registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Nigeria. Incorporated November 2011 with number RC 48248 in Nigeria, its contact details include:
[email protected]
[email protected]
Website: www.efayinitiative.org
a. OVERVIEW
Tertiary institutions in other part of the world like Europe, gain recognition a
nd advancement of their academic activities on the quality of research output, as a result, research output has become the criterion for ranking “world class universities”. In other words, research output is a qualitative means by which academics contribute to the existing body of knowledge. The research commercialization initiative will provide critical evaluation of regional priorities, existing at various projected capabilities. Economic development initiatives which will help to strengthen research commercialization in Africa’s tertiary institutions and research laboratories with the opportunities identified not only on capacity and skill build-up, but also on the evaluation of the external climate which includes national and global priorities. Innovation is imperative for firms seeking a competitive advantage. This is a viable opportunity for governments, industries, tertiary and research institutions to stimulate entrepreneurship and technological development through investments in research commercialization, infrastructure and environmental support strategy which are important to the industrial sector. The communication between industries, corporations and tertiary institutions for partnership, collaboration and support in order to enhance research areas worthy of economic development within our environment towards institutional focus and national framework within the continent of Africa and beyond offers greater values for research management and commercialization throughout the various tertiary and research institutions. Communication between institutions through sharing of information, conferences, workshops and seminars are some of the collaborative activities that would be implemented. The research commercialization strategic process is aimed at enabling a more efficient output of resource utilization as well as maximizing public and private return on investment. In addition to improving efficiency in industries, this initiative will improve Africa’s global research competitiveness by accelerating the rate of technology development and production. Local Situation and Trends in Nigeria
Given almost a century of continuous research in the various institutions of higher learning, one may wish to know:
• The efficacy of the research
• The impact of this research on the nation’s economy
These questions are pertinent because there are presumptions of very weak research culture especially outside the tertiary community. Even in the university sector where several academics are known to have showcased the products of their researches in the international intellectual scene, the bulk of this research is said to be conceived in terms of publications, career advancement and intellectual prestige of the individual researchers, often with very little social relevance. Admittedly, poor motivation, poor and irregular funding, obsolete research infrastructure, inadequacy of qualified research personnel, general lack of research focus and communication between researchers and the industrial sector are yawning gaps in Nigeria’s higher education research. These constraints constitute serious limitations to the research capacity of these institutions. Opportunities
• Forging partnership between universities and industry through sharing of resources that would enable research commercialization, technology transfer and ease the tertiary institutions limited scientific and technical expertise.
• Industry collaborations and participation in research activities will also be neccessary if promising innovations are to be moved beyond the stage of initial prototype or demonstration to commercialization.
• The PREA programme of the organization will illuminate research commercialization in various tertiary and research institutions, thereby challenging researchers and assisting them in understanding real-world challenges that limit technological implementation and commercialization.
• The programme (PREA) allows for better understanding on how more successful researches are transferred from the research institutes to the market for the progress of the economic society thereby proffering tangible solutions to the industry.
• Enable efficient resource utilization and maximize public and private return on investment. Vision Statement:
To be a superlative organization discovering suitable and timely solutions to the world’s most challenging problems via the commercialization of researches, innovation and ideas. OBJECTIVES
Objectives
The objectives of the organisation include:
• To enhance economic development through researches, innovation and ideas exhibition, actualization and commercialization of outstanding research prototypes carried out by tertiary and research institutions.
• To motivate, facilitate and promote the exchange of research results and technical know-how among tertiary and research institutions for technological development.
• To promote practically indigenous projects among tertiary youths, and encourage tertiary institution participation in community based development.
• To ultimately promote entrepreneurship
PROGRAMMES OF THE ORGANIZATION
Project/Reseach Exhibition & Actualization (PREA)
INNOVATION AND IDEAS GENERATION (IIG)
EFAY-Org ICT Incubation Centre
A. Scope of Activities of Programmes
1. Projects/Researches Exhibitions & Actualizations (PREA)
The EFAY-Org programme PREA focuses on research outcomes and final projects, thereby addressing the core purpose of tertiary institutions through innovation/ideas prioritization and technology commercialization. The involvement of tertiary and research institutions in the development of communities is often considered the integral component of the overall academic experience of the students and faculty. The programme provides models that explain how tertiary and research institutions in collaboration with other organizations may collaborate to achieve:
• Need-driven researches
• Research-inspired innovation from basic research (from mere right-up to prototype)
• Curiosity-driven research. In order to explain the dynamics of
• organizational learning and knowledge management practices between the various research institutions and industries
• geographical distance
• quality of research
• incentive, mechanisms that influences the benefits from such interactions
Goals of PREA
The Goals of the programme (Projects/Research Exhibition and Actualization) include:
• In a global context, to strengthen the relationship between tertiary and research institutions, Industries and Corporations in innovation and technology commercialization
• Creating academic awareness for researchers, faculties and students with good projects/researches to gain access to funding channels and opportunities such as but not limited to
Grants, loans, rebates, tax incentives, co-investment, venture capital, collaborative opportunities in order to assist these in presenting their ideas more effectively to investors. Seed/incubation funding, angel investment, private equity, private donation and trust or foundation support
• Inspiring researchers to ensure that researches are undertaken on advantageous terms of all parties, to ensure researchers meet their obligations to sponsors punctually and to make sure research results are effectively disseminated to the society and where appropriate, commercialised. NEED ANALYSIS of PREA
The researcher’s perspective of commercialization is about maximizing the commercial impact and financial benefit of technology. The following have been identified as the importance of research in the society
• The need to harness the technology developed in the laboratories for economic and technological advancement.
• The need for the various tertiary institutions to contribute their quota for the development of products and services based on technological innovations, which will provide a long‐term competition to the companies and industries in the society.
• The need provide knowledge, ideas and innovation to businesses and technology which could provide the key to solve wide‐ranging grass‐root problems in Africa.
• The need to have mechanisms, policies and a pool of industries, companies and people who will facilitate effective commercialization of technology and researches. Based on PREA and the programme models, we are classifying research implementation strategies into:
(i) Individual research: This is a research system that is initiated and conducted by an individual researcher or a team of researchers who may seek funding from the University Board of Research or from alternative funding agencies, including international organisations, NGOs and the private sector. (ii) Institutional research: This is initiated and supervised by the institution or a unit of the institution (faculty, department etc) and usually involves a team of researchers. Funding is internal, except where assistance is obtained from external sources. (iii) Commissioned or contractual research: This is carried out at the instance of an external body, which may be the government or a government organ, the private sector, NGOs etc, which also funds the research. The sponsor has right of ownership of the research results. (iv) Collaborative research: This is a joint research effort with common objectives or goals and involves sharing of ideas, methodologies, facilities etc between individual researchers or research teams, from same or different institutions, organisations, countries or regions of the world. (v) Student research: This is an undergraduate or postgraduate research project undertaken by a student, supervised by the student’s department, and the results of which are reported in student’s thesis or dissertation. Student research is usually jointly funded between the student (sponsor) and his department. Potential Benefits of Commercializing Researches
• Practical application of research in developing products fosters the widest possible recognition of the researcher’s efforts.
• Collaboration with industrial partners may also result in financial sponsorship of additional research.
• Collaboration with industrial partners may provide upcoming researchers invaluable experience, and potentially future career paths. Based on PREA and the programme models, we are classifying research implementation strategies into:
(i) Individual research: This is a research system that is initiated and conducted by an individual researcher or a team of researchers who may seek funding from the University Board of Research or from alternative funding agencies, including international organisations, NGOs and the private sector. INNOVATION AND IDEA GENERATION (IIG)
IIG is a programme aimed at helping; promoting and encouraging youths in tertiary institutions to develop creative ideas, for outstanding knowledge acquisitions towards innovative solutions for both their own lives and for the advancement and development of the tertiary institutions and the community at large. The focus strategy of IIG is on;
• Research;
• Innovation and Idea generation
In building innovators, the programme is aimed at giving the much needed relevance to science (physical and applied), engineering, agriculture and ICT. This highlights the various opportunities where youths can effectively function in their capacities. This will give youths in the various universities the leading edge in employing resourceful ideas. The goals of IIG are;
• The incitation of self-realization in youths;
• To promote ideas development through networking;
• To provide accessibility to state–of–the–art technology and systems, for a sustainable socio-economic development. This will provide youths with the much needed skills to meet real life demands by stimulating intellectual interest through idea exploration, research interventions with the aim of solving societal problems, creating innovative environments and piloting global initiatives. Overview of the Project we are seeking funding for- EFAY-Org ICT Incubation Centre
EFAY-Org ICT Incubation is aimed at employing the undying skills youths have garnered from years of studies and practice. EFAY-Org seeks to lend a helping hand to such professionals who are ICT oriented by providing a platform where ideas and skills can be employed in solving challenging problems. The incubation centre provides a conducive work space with the necessary facilities, aimed at increasing productivity. Some of the services offered by the centre include:
• A workspace for the incubatee where he need not fear the possibility of losing his idea to some other developer as he is secured by the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
• Availability of such facilities that would increase result output to include constant power, office space and staying connected at all times to improve quality of research
The incubation centre serves as a link between the teeming population of youths with ICT skills and the various parastatals involved in implementing such solutions. EFAY-Org seeks to achieve this goal through its annual conference for project commercialization which features seminars, workshops and project exhibition. The EFAY-Org ICT Incubation Centre provide competitive platform for a sustainable capacity that will analyse and compare business processes against alternative solutions proposed for the development of standard software packages towards “best practices” approach that will contribute to the ICT innovation, competitive economy and wealth creation. The objectives of the ICT Incubation centre are to:
i. To bring together skilful ICT experts within her environment for the purposes of developing ICT software/Apps
ii. The centre will also provide internet, constant power supply, conducive working space/office environment for the development App thereby putting these skills into proper usage so we can harness Content Apps, Idea & Innovation Generation, Legal Services, Licensing of Apps and Patent & Trade-Mark
iii. The centre create better platforms for the skills gathered with in the centre to produce timely and suitable ICT solution to meet the various needs of industries, companies and organization within advanced business scenario. iv. The centre will provide you the opportunities for ICT experts gather to sharpen their skills, learn from others and generate income
v. The centre will also provide they gathered ICT expert with the required opportunity to access funds/grant/support from donor, company and investors. vi. The centre will promote ICT business and company’s platform that will help move businesses from segregated sales and marketing strategy to the unique customer approach for advance commercialization. vii. The centre will provide ICT experts (incubatees) with the opportunity to meet with investors, companies and industries that are in need of their services and skills. viii. The entire project if the EFAY-Org ICT Incubation Centre is aim at reducing brain drain among youth and to commercialized local innovation into international market with high social and economic value. ix. Define and provide a well developed platform and framework for an effective software package selection system within the market
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Due to the absence of available jobs in Nigeria and Africa at large, most undergraduates are afraid of what the future holds for them in the labour market. The entrepreneurial programme of EFAY-Org provides employment opportunities that are open to graduating youths with high technological skills. The goals of the programme are to:
promoting public-private partnerships through growing small and medium enterprises;
develop youth leadership through team building and business skills;
promote youth employment through affiliation with local industries;
Create new youth-led business opportunities and encourage young people to exchange business ideas and information
