AUST. Ag President ,Prof. Azikiwe Peter Onwaulu Commissioning AUSTInspire Business Incubation Center in Abuja

To build new set of entrepreneurs and innovators with global competitiveness in mind, the African University of Science and Technology (AUST) Abuja has commissioned a Business Incubation Centre to translate research results into products and services.

The AUST Inspire Hub according to the Acting President of the Ivory tower, Prof. Peter Azikiwe Onwaulu was created and inaugurated to transform the science and technology based institution to Entrepreneurs Centre cum academic excellence

Commissioning the Incubation Centre located in the University, Prof. Onwaulu said ” we have excelled in every global standard in the area of research and publications. It is good to publish, creates and share knowledge but if that knowledge doesn’t translate to impact in the society, it means that something was missing and if every university could do something and started this type of process, before long, you will see university based Innovation Hubs all over the country and things will begin to happen.”

“So, all the criticisms that Professors are just there talking without producing anything will be a thing of the past”

Speaking further on the primary objectives of the Business Incubation Centre, the Acting President said “I think, most of us are very good at doing research, writing, teaching, coming up with theories but we are deficient in translating those ideas into products, into innovations and that is what we are trying to achieve so that when the number of publications coming out of the University is increasing, we will also see the number of patents coming out and the numbers of start-ups from our environment also increasing”

“In the future as you are seeing wonderful publications coming out of AUST, you will also see a number of products from people doing Innovation works here on campus whether they are students or staff”

He urged the University students and staff to make effective use of the hub, appealing that any initiative begging for assistance and inputs will be given the desired support and encouragement.

On funding, the University Don appreciated the African Development Bank (AfDB) for its financial support for the project.

“Our partners will continue to support us so that funding may not be an issue. Off course, money will always be an issue because even if you are given all the funds on earth, you still need money. Money will always be an issue but I believe that the more we work, the more you will get more money to implement what we supposed to implement” he said

In his remarks, Dr Joe Abba, a member of the AUST Industry Advisory Board, lauded the initiative saying that research should go beyond proving and disproving theories but should translate to products and services to the people.

“Having this kind of initiative to translate knowledge to things that are useful to the society. It is the reason why the University Industry Advisory Board was set up and it is an initiative that is clearly in line with the University ambition to continue to be relevant to the lives of Africans as a whole” he said

The event was attended by research and development experts including representatives from CcHUB, Daniel Israel of 3D Robofronics, Daniella Nwadukwa of Wenovation Hub and other stakeholders.