The Ikeja Branch, Nigerian Society of Engineers, on Saturday, called for public support towards equipping its new engineering hub aimed at closing innovation gaps to boost manufacturing in the nation.
Ikeja Branch Chairman, Femi Adedotun, NSE, made the appeal while delivering a speech at his inauguration ceremony titled, “Innovative Entrepreneurship: A Requisite for Sustainable Economic Developments’’, at the Ralph Alabi Engineering Centre in Lagos.
Adedotun said the branch’s three-floor innovation hub called ‘Rauf Aregbesola Resource Centre’, located beside Ralp Alabi Engineering Centre, was a place for birthing ideas, training, designs, and fabrications.
He added, “The RAERC floors are designated for collaboration to sustain innovations, research incubations, and entrepreneurship. We need sponsors to furnish the building with modern equipment, and we look forward to your support and suggestions for the actualisation of this goal.
“The tripartite relations and strong innovation policy guidelines will redress weak interaction within the ecosystem, low coordination between government, industry, and academia; insufficient coordination within government; and low interaction among businesses. This would also encourage synergy between the academia, industry, and engineers to boost local manufacturing.”
The incumbent chairman solicited the support of all members of the branch and promised to build on the legacies of his predecessor who prepared a 10-year road map of growth.
The guest speaker, Dr. Ezekiel Oseni, Chief Risk Officer, Bank of Industry, noted that innovative entrepreneurship had changed the way business and services were rendered in terms of delivery.
Oseni listed recent challenges, including COVID-19 , which had introduced new ways into how businesses and services were done or delivered, hence the need for increased local production.
He said, “We need to be innovative in the way we design and run our businesses. Engineering firms as solution providers must also adopt environmentally-friendly policies toward mitigating the impact of climate change.”
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