The faculty of physical sciences, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Uli, Anambra State has held the 5th edition of its 2023 international conference and exhibitions with the theme: “breaking barriers to innovation, local manufacturing and technology development.”
The event which attracted all the intellectuals in the faculty, government officials, captains of industry, young innovators sampled from secondary schools across Anambra and beyond, students and non-academic staff of the university was held at TETFUND Pharmacy auditorium, Igbariam campus.
The week-long programme turned science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship inside out with practical and theoretical approaches, proffering solutions to issues that bothered on innovative ideas, among other things.
The Anambra State Commissioner for Industry, Mr Christian Udechukwu, was Chairman on the occasion. He and Special Assistant to the Governor on Innovation and Business Incubation, Miss Chinwe Okoli represented the Governor, Professor Charles Soludo.
Mr Udechukwu said that all the young innovators and inventors from different primary and secondary schools in Anambra State would be invited to Awka for Industrialization Day with the Governor before the end of this year. The Commissioner explained that the reason for the invitation was to encourage them and also back them up in any way possible.
The Commissioner said the invitation would further help to explain that innovation and innovative ideas were not the exclusive preserve of the undergraduates and graduates of higher institutions, adding that pupils and students of secondary schools were also expected to innovate which he said was in agreement with the industrialization agenda of Governor Soludo.
In his presentation, the convener and the Dean, faculty of physical sciences, Prof Kingsley Nwozor said that this year’s conference came at a time of immense sobriety across every social, economic and political fabrics of the country. Navigating through the subsisting narrow windows of operation, he said, required taking tough decisions and committing to their implementation.
He noted that the 2023 Faculty of Physical Science Conference (FAPSCON) interestingly had no immunity against some of those tough and often brutal decisions and harsh economic climate.
The Dean explained that the conference was motivated by the fact that the most consistent parameter in every success story was resilience and focus. He disclosed that those in the faculty of physical sciences were resilient and laser-focused on the goal of university industrialization.
Source/SUN
