NSIA launched an innovation prize with a total prize value of US$255,000 to be awarded as a combination of cash and equity investment to the underlying businesses of the winners.
The NSIA Prize for Innovation’s (NPI) primary objective is to identify, build, and finance early-stage innovative solutions that have the potential to catalyze economic growth, enhance the nation’s productive capacity, and create jobs. The NPI is designed to encourage and support ingenuity within the digital sector and to fund new solutions that could result in cost-effective, scalable, and transformative positive impact.
The NPI priority sectors are technology-enabled businesses in financial services, agriculture, health, education, manufacturing, logistics & e-mobility, e-commerce & marketplaces, renewables & power, and climate. The listed priority sectors were selected given the appreciable impact innovations in these sectors can have on the Nigerian economy. Applications from innovative tech-focused or tech-enabled businesses aforementioned sectors will be considered by an expert panel of judges.
The programme is a multi-year commitment by the NSIA to empower budding Nigerian innovators, in a bid to catalyse the rise of the digital economy. The Programme will adopt a three-staged competition at the end of which ten (10) finalists will emerge and win varied prizes.
Budding technopreneurs who intend to participate in the Programme will be evaluated and shortlisted in line with a set eligibility criteria. The shortlisted candidates will participate in an acceleration programme to enhance their capabilities and digital solutions. The top 10 entries will partake in a pitch-session on demo day from which a winner will emerge. The programme will run for 16 weeks.
It is expected that the innovation prize will:
• Identify, build, and finance early-stage innovative solutions to catalyse economic growth, enhance the nation’s productive capacity, and create jobs.
• Provide an enabling platform to showcase early-stage innovative solutions with transformative potential.
• Create an avenue for Nigerian innovators to raise capital and network with a universe of investors and established technology experts.
• Strengthen the capital formation process for viable digital solutions originating in Nigeria.
• Inspire ingenuity, creativity, innovation, and breakthrough ideas in the digital ecosystem in Nigeria through cycles of prize competitions.
Visit www.nsia-ip.com to register now.
