The University of Lagos has officially announced the launch of an Artificial Intelligence-themed UNIPOD on its campus as part of a network of 13 UniPODs being set up across African countries by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to create a link between research and product innovation while empowering the continent's youth to spearhead its industrial progress.

The Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Folashade Ogunwola (OON, FAS) made this known during the UNDP public lecture and AI UniPOD ground- breaking ceremony, held at the Senate Building of the institution on Tuesday.

The University Innovation Pods (UniPODS) are an initiative of the UNDP’s pan-African initiative, timbuktoo. The UNIPODS aim to encourage students in universities to engage in innovation and design thinking and are multi-pronged. They focus on supporting and growing innovative, scalable, and impactful entrepreneurship by African young people, while relying on a springboard of partners who together contribute meaningfully to building an African youth innovation and start-up ecosystem.

Other thematic areas of UniPods across the continent include Agritech; HealthTech; GreenTech; TradeTech; TourismTech; EdTech; Creatives and Smart Cities

In her opening remark, she said: "UniPOD aims to encourage students in universities to engage in innovation and design thinking. The Project is multi-pronged and focuses on supporting and growing innovative, scalable, and impactful entrepreneurship by African young people, while relying on a springboard of partners who together will contribute meaningfully to building an African youth innovation and start-up ecosystem".

She further described the UniPOD as a "living and breathing hub, where a community of dreamers, thinkers, and doers are united by a common passion: the pursuit of groundbreaking ideas and the relentless drive to turn them into reality".

Speaking at the launch, Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP's Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa, said, "We must invest in the creative industry; in the development of music, fashion, movies, ...creative entertainment generally and technology, thereby turning the wheel as an anchor in economic transformation".

Ms. Eziakonwa also said she believes Nigeria will take Africa as a continent to the next level on innovation stating further that, “the transformative power and strategic influence of innovation will improve the lives of people”.

Ms Eziakonwa expressed joy for the attainment of this landmark achievement in the drive towards the use of technology and innovation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The vice chancellor in her closing remarks declared that, "Nigeria will always be the first in innovation and will be the anchor in economic transformation in Africa”.