Building a national system of innovation in nigeria

The major explanation for the success of today's advanced industrial countries as well as
those other developing countries that have recently transformed their economies, lies in
their history of innovation along such various dimensions as institutions, technology,
trade, organization and the application of natural resources. Innovation and adoption of
technologies is endogenous and driven largely by the contributions of investments in science
and technology and adequate policy frameworks.
It is thus not the lack of science or technological innovation, but rather the lack of national
capacity to acquire and harness its potential, that hinders countries from fully leveraging this
vehicle to socio-economic progress and development. Economic change will require a mastery
of knowledge that is transformed into goods and services, and such transformation occurs
within a national system of innovation that is robust and result oriented. A recent survey of
national innovation systems across Africa by the African Technology Policy Studies Network
shows a weak and uncoordinated understanding of the dynamics of a national innovation.