On May 29, 2025, the WIPO Intellectual Property (IP) for Green Innovation program officially concluded with a Demo Exhibition Day event at the Enterprise Development Centre, Lagos Business School, Lagos. The event marked the end of a six-month journey of growth in intellectual property utilization for 100 green hardware innovators.
The IP for Green Innovation program was launched in October 2024 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in collaboration with the Nigeria Climate Innovation Center (NCIC), with generous support from the Japan Patent Office. Its goal was to empower Nigerian green hardware innovators to utilize IP for business and commercialization.
Through business acceleration training and one-on-one mentorship through the WIPO IP Management Clinic, the program equipped 100 green hardware innovators with the skill to harness IP for growth.
The Demo Exhibition Day opened with welcome remarks from Mr. Oluwatobiloba Moody, Director of the WIPO Nigeria Office, and Mr. Adamu Garba, Chief Operations Officer at NCIC. Mr. Garba congratulated the innovators and encouraged them to apply their newly acquired knowledge to forge ahead in their journey to contributing to environmental sustainability in Nigeria.
In his address, Mr. Moody emphasized IP as a critical driver of innovation - essential for helping innovators maximize their revenue to scale their solutions. He underscored that it is however the strategic utilization of IP that offers opportunities for innovators and reiterated WIPO’s commitment to collaborating to promote intellectual property awareness and capacity-building initiatives for innovators.
The event also featured a fireside chat with Ms. Busola Bakinson, Team Lead, Intellectual Property, Entertainment, Leisure and Media Practice, Olaniwun Ajayi moderated by Mr. Tosin Ajide, Programs and Partnership Lead, Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre. The discussion shed light on the low levels of IP awareness within the green innovation ecosystem. Ms. Bakinson commended the IP for Green Innovation program as a timely and impactful initiative, advocating for sustained investment in IP education and support for green entrepreneurs.
Following an overview of the project presented by Ms. Olaronke Famuyiwa, Program Officer, WIPO Nigeria Office, the Demo Exhibition Day spotlighted the achievements of the innovators who emerged as finalists in the program. These innovators had journeyed from the initial 100 onboarded out of 232 applicants, to the 32 moving to the IP Management stage, and eventually the emergence of 10 finalists. The finalists showcased their innovative solutions to climate-related problems in Nigeria, as well as their IP strategy. The solutions ranged from creative ways to reuse waste to inventive power generation products. Industry and IP experts were present to give feedback to the entrepreneurs.
The achievements of the innovators in the IP Labs 2.0 program underscores the potential of IP to support the growth of creativity and entrepreneurship within the Nigerian green ecosystem. By continuing to provide platforms for capacity building and learning in intellectual property, WIPO aims to collaborate with the Nigerian Government to catalyze innovation and economic development in Nigeria.
