“Innovation Key to Nigeria’s Economic Development”

Engr. M. B. Shehu, President, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has said Nigerian organizations can create competitive advantage by discovering new and better ways to compete and bring their solutions to market.

He made this known as Autodesk Africa has made cementing solid partnerships with local regulatory bodies its top priority to work closely with organizations such as the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).

Shehu said: “It is through innovation which includes improvements in technology and better methods or ways of doing things that Nigeria will increase its global competitiveness and build its economy.”

 “In this era of globalisation, competition in engineering, manufacturing and services cut across national boundaries and nations compete for market shares.”

He noted that software development involves a tremendous collaborative effort that blends the creative ideas and talents of programmers, writers and graphic artists.

The NSE president said “Like most creative works such as books, music and films, computer software is protected by copyright laws. So when you purchase software, you are actually purchasing a license to use it, not the actual software.”

Speaking in the same vein, Richard Smedley-Williams, Sales director at Autodesk Africa explained that well over half the world’s personal computer users, 57 per cent of them admit they acquire pirated software, according to the Business Software Alliance report in its ninth-annual Global Software Piracy Study.

“Some users say they pirate all or most of the time, according to the study. Others say they do it occasionally or rarely. The net effect fueled a global software piracy rate of 42 percent last year.”

“The commercial value of all these pirated software climbed from $58.8 billion in 2010 to $63.4 billion in 2011, a new record, propelled by PC shipments to emerging economies where piracy rates are highest, including Nigeria.”

Latest piracy research for Nigeria has indicated that the value of software theft in the country reached a new peak at $225m in 2010, as 83 percent of software deployed on PCs during the year was said to be pirated, according to Microsoft Nigeria.
 
Autodesk aims to drastically reduce software piracy in the region, better protect their customers from malicious software coding, and provide the best possible design software solutions to architecture, engineering, mining and construction professionals – the people who shape Nigeria’s future.

Autodesk has identified accessibility and availability as key priorities to combat piracy.  Through a substantial investment into building a network of authorized Autodesk vendors in Nigeria, they have created new skills and built up a network of support for customers.