Inventors and prospective inventors from Southeast Geo-Political Zone can now hiss a sigh of relief as the Federal Government through the National Office for Technology and Acquisition and Promotion (NATOP) of the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology were gathered them in Owerri recently to brainstorm on how to commercialize their intellectual property other than leaving it behind as liability in a well organized and well attended workshop.
The Workshop which has been described by the primary beneficiaries as an eye-opener to the helpless indigenous inventors and a ladder for prospective inventors; was held at the Rockview Hotels Owerri. The workshop also attracted professionals and scholars from different high institutions in the zone, who were on hand to speak on the workshop of Patentees Forum titled ‘,After Patent What Next”.
In her welcome address the Acting Director General National Office For Technology Acquisition And Promotion NOTAP, Dr. Theresa Imiyoho disclosed all the effort made and are being made by the agency in ensuring adequate laboratories are put in place or upgraded for effective and efficient research processes.
Describing the program as one established to encourage inventors and make their efforts profitable for them and the society at large : Dr Imiyoho called on those who were yet to secure their patents to utilize information provided by the program/workshop to know how to go about commercializing their patents.
In the different but well articulated papers presented by the representatives of Central Bank of Nigeria CBN and Bank of Industries BOI, and NOTAP not only disclosed availability of loans but also handed information to patentees on how to move to the next level and urged them to always make use of them to add value to their intellectual property.
Interestingly, other presentations were made, as the representatives from the Patent units in Nnamdi Azikiwe University and University of Nigeria Nsukka who disclosed the successes recorded in their various institutions.
