The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) has strengthened its support to Nigerian researchers, inventors and innovators to enable them patent their Research and Development (R&D) results and inventions at the Patent Registry, Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment.
Dr. DanAzumi Ibrahim, Director General of NOTAP stated this while receiving members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) Maitama branch who paid a courtesy visit to NOTAP management at the office headquarters in Abuja.
Represented by Dr. Adamu Tandama, the Director Consultancy Services Department of NOTAP, the DG said NOTAP assists researchers to patent their inventions and innovations by undertaking searches for them in patent documents to avoid re-inventing the wheel and also by paying filing fees for them at the Patent Registry.
He noted that the office strengthened this support in the year 2017 and as a result, 50 researchers acquired patents adding that between January to June this year, 49 researchers have already acquired patents through NOTAP support and revealed that the office is working assiduously to ensure that 100 patents are registered by the end of December 2018.
The Director General urged the leadership of the NSE Maitama branch to galvanize the youthful energy of in their membership to push for a strong knowledge based society, professionalism and expertise in their fields to enable Nigeria leapfrog into the advanced technological nations of the world.
The Leader of the visiting delegation, Engr. Dipo Agboola said their mission is to acquire firsthand knowledge on the mandates, activities and programmes of NOTAP and seek areas of collaboration. He expressed appreciation for the warm reception accorded members of the society and made a request to NOTAP management for capacity building for members of the society on the activities of NOTAP.
Members of the society took turns to ask NOTAP management questions on patenting, the Intellectual Property Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTO), the local vendor initiative of NOTAP and other Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) issues which were adequately responded to by the representative of the Director General and other management staff.
