At DigitA, much of our work sits at the intersection of evidence, systems, and transformation. One of our most significant ecosystem engagements has been our role as technical lead for the nationwide Innovation Hub Assessment commissioned by the Innovation Support Network (ISN), a project that has helped sharpen the national conversation on innovation, entrepreneurship, and digital growth in Nigeria.

Spanning all six geopolitical zones, the assessment covered 190+ innovation hubs and engaged a wide range of ecosystem stakeholders. The objective was to move beyond fragmented visibility and build a system-level understanding of how Nigeria’s innovation infrastructure is evolving, where the constraints lie, and what must change to unlock scale.

Nigeria’s hubs are powering entrepreneurship, supporting startups, building digital skills, and anchoring local innovation communities. Sector activity remains strongest in ICT, Agritech, Edutech, and Fintech, confirming the country’s continued momentum in digital and high-growth industries. At the same time, the assessment revealed structural gaps; most hubs operate with small teams, many depend heavily on external funding, infrastructure challenges remain widespread, and ecosystem coordination is still uneven.

For DigitA, this work goes beyond mapping hubs. It reflects our broader mandate to strengthen innovation systems through evidence-driven diagnostics, policy intelligence, and ecosystem design. The findings from this assessment are already informing conversations around institutional capacity, sustainable hub models, ecosystem coordination, and long-term innovation infrastructure planning.

Most importantly, the project reinforces a core principle behind our work — that innovation ecosystems do not grow through isolated interventions, but through coordinated, system-level strengthening grounded in data.

As we continue supporting governments, ecosystem builders, and partners across Africa, this engagement marks another step in advancing DigitA’s mission: building resilient, inclusive, and high-performing innovation ecosystems that drive digital and economic transformation.