Too few Nigerian women researchers are leading spinout companies. There has been little or no attention focused on the Nigerian women researchers’ progression from research to spinout leadership. This study builds on the current UK research on university women spinouts and complements it by providing a more international perspective.
Science, Technology and Innovation are central to the Nigerian Government development plan for fostering prosperity and socioeconomic growth. Evidence of this is the Nigerian Vision 20:2020 formulated to resolve the long term disconnect between economic planning, science, and technology.
Nigeria is committed to raising awareness of STI and its effect on the Sustainable Development Goals, thus advancing women engineering and global technological development.
There is a stronger case for this study to investigate and analyse individual level gender experiences in university spinouts in Nigeria. The study aims to provide innovative insights on women’s participation in university spinouts and STI in Nigeria.
According to the 2019 Global Innovation Index, Nigeria ranked 123 out of 130 countries on the University/Industry research collaboration, this implies that Nigerian S&T institutions are fairly below average. The Nigeria Government’s Science, Technology and Innovation is at the heart of development plan to fostering prosperity and socio-economic growth. It is therefore crucial that universities take action to harness women’s talent.
The research attempts to find out what universities in Nigeria are doing to address the existence of gender gap in academic entrepreneurship. Some universities are beginning to see the importance of academic spinouts and making an effort to encourage academics to take up the challenge, but many researchers are constrained by the limited opportunities for academic entrepreneurship and spinouts.