AN
ADDRESS BY THE CHAIRMAN LAGOS CHAPTER OF THE NIGERIAN INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL
ENGINEERS (NIMechE) ENGR. (MRS) FUNMI AKINGBAGBOHUN, (FNIMechE) ON THE OCCASION
OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE FOR THE NIMechE INNOVATION CHALLENGE 2017. THURSDAY 5TH JANUARY,
2017.
Executives and Members of NIMechE and NSE here present,
Members of the Press corps,
Representatives of Universities here presents,
Mechanical Engineering Students here presents,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am very delighted, to welcome you specially to this Press
Conference.
On behalf of the NIMechE family and the Nigeria Society of
Engineers, I thank you most sincerely for honouring us with your esteemed
presence.
At a time where as a nation, we are shifting our focus
inwardly through the adoption of local alternatives and the promotion of local
solutions to our challenges, NIMechE Lagos is pleased to announce a ground
breaking effort in that direction, the NIMechE Innovation Challenge, 2017.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
The Nigerian Institution of
Mechanical Engineers (NIMECHE) Lagos Chapter, through the support of the Royal Academy of Science Africa Catalyst
16/17 Award Grant will be sponsoringthis laudable initiative.
This competitionis targeted at
students in the Mechanical Engineering departments in ten (10) tertiary
institutions across Lagos State. Through this challenge, we intend to support
the discovery of original ideas and local solutions to identifiable problems in
agriculture, power supply, renewable
energy and automation. This we believe will result injob creation,
enterprise creation and the promotion of our national development. The
challenge will potentially address issues of capacity building in engineering
as well as strengthening of engineering practice, cooperation and involvement
in the growth of the nation.
Selected institutions are to form
3 student teams each, to tackle one of the four outlined challenges. Entries
would be submitted through a special website to be created for that purpose.
NIMECHE working closely with the Nigeria
Society of Engineers (NSE) has assembled a team of eminent engineering
professionals who would review entries and determine the best 3 entries to
proceed to the final round from the 10 institutions participating in the
competition.
The winners would be
measured based on:
·
NIMechE compliance
·
Affordability and Accessibility
·
Scalability
·
Empathy
·
Innovation/Differentiation
·
Technical feasibility
·
Sustainability and
·
Team Capabilities
Selected Teams will benefit from
the experience of NIMechE Supervisors as they develop a funded prototype of
their innovations. These innovations will be presented to the public on the
NIMechE Innovation Day later in April this year.
This challenge which is the first of its kind
in Nigeria will set the standard for more competitions, discoveries and
cross-sector collaborations in the future. We hope to establish a strong
relationship with other sectors of the economy like manufacturing, marketing
and agriculture and leverage on the solutions proffered for deployment all over
the nation. By this challenge, we envisage a renewed relationship between
professionals and a sense of shared objectives.
As we look towards the future as a nation,
the NIMechE Innovation Challenge aspires to continually engage stakeholders
both locally and internationally and strengthen corporation in the area of
technology and human resources development. We are convinced that this will
result in an improved perception of the engineering industry in Nigeria at home
and abroad.
Furthermore the creative genius of the
Nigerian youths will have an opportunity for expression through this challenge.
Many young people across the nation will be inspired by the quality of
solutions we hope to receive during this competition.
Prices will be in form of trophies, cash and
special interventions in the departments and opportunities to help scale
winning products for commercialization.
To ensure
the project is delivered to its full potentials, NIMechE will be working with
an international and national project manager, IBLF Global UK and the Mechanical
Engineering Skills Acquisition Limited (MESA) Lagos Nigeria. They would provide
guidance and direction for the project and ensure best practice is maintained
at all times.
I want to at
this point, specially thank our sponsors, the Royal
Academy of Engineering London for investing in the future of our development as
a nation through this challenge. I also want to thank all other partners involved
in the project and the executives and members of NIMechE and the NSE for their
unflinching support. Finally, I want to thank very specially all journalists
and media houses represented here today.
We look
forward to forging an historical partnership with talented Nigerian youths and
the academic community as we deliver viable and affordable solutions for
national transformation.
Thank you
and God bless you.
Engr. (Mrs) FunmiAkingbagbohun, FNIMechE.
Chairman, Lagos Chapter NIMechE.
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| Group Photograph of attendees after the Press Conference |
