From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) under the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has commissioned Intellectual Property and Technolog Transfer Office (IPTTO) at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Uli, Anambra State.
The office which the Director General of the IPTTO, Dr Dan-Azumi Ibrahim commissioned witnessed in attendance all the big wigs in the Faculty of Physical Sciences and other categories of workers from the faculty.
In his remarks, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics, of the university, Professor Osita Chiaghanam said the event once again registered the impact of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technolog at the university.
Prof Chiaghanam who represented the VC of the COOU noted that the university was known for science and technology prowess. He explained that the university had made laudable achievements in that regard under the watch of Prof Greg Nwakoby as the VC.
“The IPTTO came with a lot of equipment that will help us in research and development. We are happy. This can now help us further to transform our research findings into industrial use most of which already published in international journals.
“Research and development is all about inventing things which the masses will benefit from. With this development, the university researchers are encouraged to get into deep research with the knowledge that their intellectual property is protected, ” he said.
The facilitator of the IPTTO at the university and the Dean, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Prof Kingsley Nwozor described the COOU as a university full of researchers as well as creative and hard-working scholars.
“The emphasis has been ‘publish or perish’. People have been researching but that doesn’t translate to financial wealth. Through this office (IPTTO), we are saying that your creativity, inventions and innovations can now be secured so that your knowledge could be translated to actual financial wealth.
“While people are making researches and publishing the papers, the industrial relevance of such publications is what we are going to secure.
“Anambra State is a home for commerce and industry and governement is now passionate about science and technology and we can’t just be talking about it. We need to begin to secure the industrial component of it, bring knowledge and researches to actual products that can be commercialized.
“This will move knowledge from desk work to industry and then to market for real financial net worth, “Prof Nwozor said.
He further noted that ideas had ruled the world as people came up with inventions and creative ideas which he said they turned into real money. He cited phones, electric vehicles, among others as products of research.
Earlier, the DG of the IPTTO who was represented by Mr Ephraim Okejiri said that the idea of the office started in 2004 with the aim of popularizing intellectual property at research institutions.
He said the idea was to sensitize researchers on the need for intellectual property protection which he explained led the body to establish offices at research institutions and train the staff at such institutions on how to do it themselves.
“We spread the offices within the six geopolitical zones. We evaluate universities and rank them according to their preparedness. We also have a budget for that. We equip the office and train the people. It’s an information center for researchers, ” the DG further explained.
