The National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI) has marked a transformative year of innovation-driven leadership, financial sovereignty and global recognition, with the NextGen Innovation Challenge now poised for unprecedented international impact.
Addressing a world press conference in Abuja, the Director General NBTI, Dr. Kazeem Kolawole Raji, highlighted landmark developments positioning Nigeria and the NextGen platform as global leaders in technology incubation and innovation.
Dr. Raji further confirmed that the Commonwealth of Nations has adopted the NBTI NextGen Innovation Challenge, set for rollout across all 56 member countries.
According to him, inaugural phase will debut in Barbados and Antigua in 2026, reflecting a strategic expansion beyond Africa.
“The initiative is designed to foster cross-border collaboration, inclusive innovation, and shared solutions to global challenges in healthcare, climate resilience, digital transformation, and sustainable development. International funding partners are already signalling readiness to invest in the programme,” he said.
Dr. Raji described the initiative as a “Commonwealth-backed innovation infrastructure” rather than a simple competition, emphasising its role in converting ideas into scalable ventures and measurable economic impact.
The programme’s global credibility was further reinforced by Innovate UK’s endorsement, which has recognised NextGen as a key pipeline for globally scalable innovators.
“In 2026, 20 NextGen participants will gain fully funded access to UK innovation ecosystems, including technical mentorship, commercialisation support, and connections to accelerators and funders.”
Dr. Raji commended the strategic partnership with UKALD, London, whose collaboration was pivotal to the success of NextGen 2025.
He also unveiled the NextGen 2026 roadmap, with boot camps in Abuja and a Grand Finale in London. Priority sectors include AI and robotics, advanced semiconductors, telecommunications (6G integration), green energy, climate resilience, and gender-inclusive innovation.
NextGen 2026 aims to mobilise significant capital and foreign direct investment, strengthen Nigeria’s position as an innovation hub, move innovators from prototype to market, and institutionalise NextGen as a year-round platform for innovation and investment.
The NBTI boss explained that expected outcomes include an increased number of investment-ready startups, long-term mentorship pipelines, and sustainable public-private-international collaboration.
In addition, NBTI announced partnerships with the University of Toronto, Canada, and African Impact Initiatives for NextGen 2026. These collaborations link African ingenuity with world-class research and global impact investment networks, providing innovators access to mentorship, research collaboration, and pathways to scale their ventures globally.
Dr. Raji maintained that NextGen was no longer a competition but a global innovation platformdesigned to scale ideas, unlock capital, and deliver tangible economic impact worldwide.
