NBTI attracted over £1.5m investment for innovators in one year – DG

The National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI) has helped Nigerian innovators attract £1.5 million in foreign investment within one year.

The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NBTI, Dr Kazeem Kolawole Raji, disclosed this on Tuesday while speaking at a world press conference in Abuja to mark his first anniversary in office.

He said Nigerian innovation gained unprecedented exposure at the NextGen Innovation Challenge grand finale in London in October 2025, where over 3,000 applications were received nationwide, and 105 innovators showcased their solutions internationally.

“The outcomes were extraordinary. Interface Africa alone secured £1.5 million for a clean-energy solution, while several innovators progressed through funding pipelines ranging from $50,000 to $250,000.”

He said the NextGen platform also earned recognition from Innovate UK, featured in a BBC documentary and generated over 200 million global media and digital engagements.

Raji added that the initiative had since been formally adopted by the Commonwealth for rollout across its 56 member countries.

“This adoption positions NextGen not as a standalone competition, but as a Commonwealth-backed innovation infrastructure,” he said. “It is designed to convert ideas into scalable ventures and regional collaboration into measurable economic impact.”

Raji further disclosed that Innovate UK had agreed to admit 20 outstanding Nigerian innovators into its ecosystem on a fully funded basis for the 2026 edition.

He said NBTI would build on these gains with the 2026 NextGen Innovation Challenge, which will focus on sectors such as artificial intelligence, advanced semiconductors, green energy, climate resilience and women-led technology solutions.

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