The Lagos authorities says it is going to proceed growing investment in technology and innovation infrastructure and funding to help entrepreneurs and drive financial development.
The commissioner for innovation, science and technology, Olatunbosun Alake, stated this throughout a webinar on Tuesday on the Development Bank of Nigeria Techpreneur Summit.
Mr Alake stated the state had partnered with the personal sector to construct infrastructure and strengthen the innovation ecosystem, constructing on earlier efforts to help development.
He stated Lagos State partnered with MainOne in 2016 to deploy a fibre-optic ring round Yaba, serving to to drive startup development there. As a outcome, he stated, the initiative contributed to Yaba’s emergence as Nigeria’s Silicon Valley.
Mr Alake stated the state had enabled no fewer than 3,000 kilometres of fibre optic connectivity from 2020 to 2026.
He stated that one other initiative, inaugurated earlier this yr, would ship extra kilometres of fibre-optic infrastructure throughout the state.
According to him, Lagos additionally offered direct funding for innovation by programmes designed to help entrepreneurs.
He stated the Lagos Innovates programme, inaugurated in 2016, had helped innovators entry no less than 50 innovation hubs throughout the state.
Mr Alake stated the state was funding analysis in under-supported areas, together with environmental science, the round financial system, building technology and agricultural technology.
“In fact, the first patent we got as the Lagos State government and the University of Lagos was on a medical device invention during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he stated.
According to him, the state additionally funds analysis and improvement actions in tertiary establishments, together with the University of Lagos and Lagos State University.
Mr Alake stated Lagos State has no fewer than 25 pending patent innovations throughout varied fields of science and technology.
He additionally urged stakeholders, together with the DBN, to accomplice with the state in driving innovation and financial development.
(NAN)
