The UK-Nigeria Tech Hub and the Nest Innovation Technology Park have partnered to launch the Nigeria Innovation Cluster Exchange, a pilot to address fragmentation in Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem.

The co-founder of the Nest Innovation Technology Park, Oluwajoba Oloba, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.

Mr Oloba said the initiative was funded by the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub under the UK government’s Digital Access Programme and implemented by Nest.

Mr Oloba described NICE as a landmark pilot designed to connect entrepreneurship support organisations, research centres and innovation hubs into a coordinated national network, helping reduce fragmentation and improve collaboration.

He said Nigeria’s startup ecosystem had recorded rapid growth across FinTech, Agri-Tech, Cyber Tech and HealthTech.

He, however, noted that many innovation support organisations still operated in silos, resulting in duplicated efforts and weak sustainability for startups, which limited their growth and long-term resilience.

According to him, NICE will organise these actors into a data-driven national network to improve collaboration and strengthen innovation outcomes across the ecosystem.

“Today, we are moving from celebrating isolated pockets of brilliance to engineering a collective national engine for growth,” Mr Oloba said.

He said NICE would unify entrepreneurship support organisations and startups, enabling them to function as a coordinated innovation network across the country and support more effective growth.

“We are not just launching a programme; we are activating the connective tissue Nigeria’s economy has long demanded,” he said.

Mr Oloba said the initiative was developed from insights gained during the 2025 UK Digital Trade and Innovation Tour.

The tour was coordinated by the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub in collaboration with the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation.

He explained that the programme adapts global innovation practices to Nigeria’s ecosystem, addresses coordination challenges that affect startup development, and improves support for startups.

He cited data showing youth underemployment exceeded 53 per cent, while fewer than 10 per cent of startups survived beyond their third year.

Mr Oloba said the pilot would strengthen innovation clusters across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones through mapping, knowledge exchange, collaborative innovation and sustainability models, creating stronger local support systems.

He added that the initiative would support sectors including agritech, cybertech, and healthtech to promote economic diversification and national development through more connected innovation efforts.

The pilot phase of NICE commenced on July 6, with participation from entrepreneurship support organisations, research institutions and industry stakeholders.

(NAN)