The University of Ibadan Research Foundation (UI-RF) on Thursday evening launched a think tank expected to translate research to innovations, strategies and policies for national development.
The Sun reports that the university launched the initiative in partnership with more than 12 organisations in various sectors at the Trenchard Hall of the institution. The organisations cut across agriculture, commerce, health, security, energy, infrastructure, artificial intelligence and so on.
The partners, regarded as the Think Tank Thematic Group Hosting Institution South, include International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), the Infrastructure Bank Plc, UI, and MacArthur Foundation.
The Chairman of Board, UI-RF, Dr. Chevalier Itsueli, noted that the greater value of the new knowledge “is when it us translated and applied to our daily lives. A few countries have successfully supported thus elite group to translate this knowledge into economic development of their countries.
“We believe that Nigeria and our premier university are endowed with the personnel to provide evidence that can strengthen our policies and models that will guide the use of our resources. This is the basic principle for creating a Think Tank for translation of research to innovations and evidence for policies and this is taking the gown to town.”
The Vice Chancellor of UI, Professor Idowu Olayinka, said the think tank was initiated to ensure that results of various research are put to use, adding that the think tank would help the researchers to translate their results to innovations for the benefits of mankind.
The occasion was graced by the Director, Country Alignment and System Integration for IITA, Dr. Kwesi Atta-Krah; Prof Babatunde Salako, the Director General, NIMR; Prof Olawale Albert, Director, Institute of Peace and Strategic Studies (IPSS), UI, and Dr. Segun Aina, Chairman, Global Banking Education Standards Board (GBESTB), who are co-chairmen of the Think Tank Committee; as well as other dignitaries.
