Today's Leaders Forum Praise 2019: INNOVATION A PATHWAY TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION

Innovation is the process of discovering new ideas and realizing those ideas at large scale, changing the ways we live and work. Invention is the creation of something that has never been made before and is recognized as the product of some unique insight.

Creativity is the capability or act of conceiving something original or unusual.  Creativity is very important because it is a key ingredient of innovative process, and without it innovation is nearly impossible. Creativity is needed to go “out of the box” and find new ideas that later can be turned to innovative solutions.

Technology is the sum of techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation. Also its act of Using resources to solve a problem (such as knowledge, processes, techniques, tools and raw materials).

 The role of innovation in Nigeria economy

       

Over the last five years, innovation has become a significant way to combat critical social risks and threats. Our society revolves around continuous economic growth, which mainly depends on population growth. The population is shrinking and ageing in the developed counties and is likely to do so in other parts of the world as well.

           

Innovation is important to the advancement of country as it solves these kinds of social problems and enhances society’s capacity to act.

         

It's responsible for resolving collective problems in a sustainable and efficient way, usually with new technology. These new technologies, products and services simultaneously meet a social need and lead to improved capabilities and better use of assets and resources.

In order to be able to solve these kinds of societal problems, private, public and non-profit sectors are involved.

The fundamental outcomes of innovation to Nigeria economy 

Because innovation has an impact on so many different parts of our country, it would be almost impossible to go through everything in one post. Therefore, we need to focus on the most significant aspects related to the importance of innovation.

In general, the result of innovation should always be improvement. The fundamental outcomes of innovation are

Economic growth

Innovation and the future of jobs

Increased well-being

Reduced sickness, poverty and hunger

Communication and educational accessibility

Environmental sustainability

Economic growth

 Innovation is considered as a major source of economic growth. Economic growth refers to the increase in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy over time.

Increased well-being

innovation and economic growth increases well-being because living standards rise. 

Reduced sickness, poverty and hunger

Let me use china, America, Singapore etc. as an example, they are among Developed countries, these countries depend on innovation as new digital technologies and innovative solutions create huge opportunities to fight sickness, poverty and hunger in the poorest regions of the world, especially in most African countries. 

HOW INNOVATION REDUCE HUNGER AND POVERTY?

What comes to reducing hunger, for example, agricultural productivity is critical in the developing countries where the next population boom is most likely to take place. 

Environmental sustainability

Sustainability and environmental issues, such as climate change, are challenges that require a lot of work and innovative solutions now and in the future. Disasters e.g.  Global warming, earthquake etc.

Communication and educational accessibility

You probably already knew that The World Wide Web celebrates her 30th birthday last year. We’ve already seen a huge technological revolution during the past decades and continue to do so in the future. E.g. handset.

Innovation as continuous improvement to Nigeria development

The future success is dependent on innovation. Although innovation may sound like a very popular for some peoples in our noble Nigeria.

Innovation allows country to stay relevant in the competitive market, it also plays an important role in economic growth. The ability to resolve critical problems depends on new innovations and especially developing countries need it more than ever. 

What are the causes of innovation?

Common causes of failure within the innovation process in most countries can be distilled into five types:

poor goal definition

poor alignment of actions to goals

poor participation in teams

poor monitoring of results

poor communication and access to information.

Type of innovation as pathway to nation development

Incremental Innovation is the most common form of innovation. It utilizes your existing technology and increases value to the customer (features, design changes, etc.) within your existing market.  

Disruptive Innovation, It involves applying new technology or processes to your company’s current market.   It is stealthy in nature since newer tech will often be inferior to existing market technology.   This newer technology is often more expensive, has fewer features, is harder to use, and is not as aesthetically pleasing.  

Architectural innovation is simply taking the lessons, skills and overall technology and applying them within a different market.   This innovation is amazing at increasing new customers as long as the new market is receptive.   

Radical innovation is what we think of mostly when considering innovation.   It gives birth to new industries (or swallows existing ones) and involves creating revolutionary technology. 

WAY FORWARD 

Nigeria  can achieve and develop its goals by expanding the country’s economy and making it more globally competitive. An important step is to address the damage done to Nigerian science, technology and innovation.

The following sectors need to put into consideration 

agriculture,

 transport, 

health, 

engineering, 

pharmaceuticals, 

biotechnology and 

manufacturing sectors.

Recommendation

For the new administration under President Buhari to succeed where his predecessors have failed, he must:

Establish presidential and ministerial councils made up of respected scientists for a dedicated science, technology and innovation focus.

Invest in science, technology and innovation programmes to diversify the economy.

Launch national education reforms focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship. This can only help produce the next generation of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and innovation leaders

FIVE THINGS THE GOVERNMENT CAN DO TO BOOST INNOVATION

What steps can the Government take to improve innovation?  Here are some practical suggestions.

Make it as easy as possible to start a new business. 

Increase the availability of loans for small and medium sized enterprises

Tilt higher education towards Science. 

Invest in Infrastructure not consumption. 

Buy more from small companies. 

Question

Nigeria is developed country or developing country?

Can we categories Nigeria as Capitalism country  or socialism country.