The UK-Nigeria Tech Hub, in partnership with The Nest Innovation Technology Park, has launched the Nigeria Innovation Cluster Exchange (NICE), a new initiative to tackle fragmentation in Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem and strengthen collaboration among startups and innovation support organizations.
The Co-founder of The Nest Innovation Technology Park, Oluwajoba Oloba, announced the initiative in a statement on Monday, describing it as a landmark pilot funded by the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub under the UK Government’s Digital Access Program and implemented by The Nest.
According to Oloba, NICE is designed to connect entrepreneurship support organizations, research institutions and innovation hubs into a coordinated, data-driven national network capable of accelerating innovation and improving startup sustainability.
While acknowledging Nigeria’s rapid emergence as a leading startup destination across sectors such as FinTech, AgriTech, CyberTech, and HealthTech, he noted that many innovation support organizations continue to operate in isolation, resulting in duplicated efforts, limited collaboration, and poor long-term outcomes for startups.
“Today, we are moving from celebrating isolated pockets of brilliance to engineering a collective national engine for growth,” Oloba said.
He explained that the initiative would unify entrepreneurship support organizations and startups into a connected national ecosystem capable of driving innovation and economic growth.
“We are not just launching a program; we are activating the connective tissue Nigeria’s economy has long demanded,” he added.
Oloba said the initiative was inspired by insights from the 2025 UK Digital Trade and Innovation Tour, coordinated by the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub in collaboration with the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI).
According to him, NICE adapts global innovation best practices to Nigeria’s unique ecosystem while addressing longstanding coordination gaps that have hindered startup development.
He cited figures showing that youth underemployment in Nigeria exceeds 53 percent, while fewer than one in 10 startups survive beyond their third year, underscoring the need for stronger institutional collaboration and support structures.
The pilot program will strengthen innovation clusters across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones through ecosystem mapping, knowledge exchange, collaborative innovation projects and sustainable partnership models.
Oloba added that the initiative would focus on high-growth sectors, including AgriTech, CyberTech and HealthTech, to drive economic diversification, job creation and national development.
The pilot phase of the Nigeria Innovation Cluster Exchange officially commenced on July 6, bringing together entrepreneurship support organizations, research institutions and key industry stakeholders from across the country.
