Academia-Industry Linkages: Alternative Platforms for Engagement Under Nigerian Law

Abstract

The mandate of Nigerian universities and other institutions of higher learning is to among others, teach and carry on research. The ability of universities to effectively carry on these mandates depend on adequate funding. It is a truism that Universities in Nigeria, both public and private are under funded. The low level funding of public universities in particular, has resulted into low level research outputs. Although there are laws and indeed policies that encourage collaborations between universities, industries and other agencies of government, it does appear that there is low level awareness by researches in leveraging on the existing platforms to bridge the academia- industry gap. This article explores alternative/additional funding options for researches based on collaborative platforms under current laws and policies and concludes that these alternatives/additional funding are not resorted to by researchers largely due to low level awareness of the laws and policies underpinning academia-industry and government collaborations. The inability of universities to take advantage of these platforms has impeded researchers from transforming their research findings into products and services. The article has brought to the fore the need for universities and other institutions of higher learning to explore the legislative and policy framework underpinning collaboration with a view to transforming researches into commercial products and services. The article concludes that universities and indeed other institutions of higher learning engaged in teaching and research do not need to depend wholly on government for funding as is currently the case, rather collaboration with government Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs) and industries is available and are necessary in transforming research outcomes into commercial products and services for the benefit of stakeholders under the applicable intellectual property laws and policies. In so doing, the universities would come closer to bridging the academia –industry gap.