There are several possible futures for technology in Lagos State and how it can impact the global market as we begin the new year.

Over the last few years, the demand for creators and creatives have continued to increase and it isn’t slowing down anytime soon, with more creators rising and existing ones evolving into wider horizons, it is important to weigh in on how this seemingly old trend would impact the future of technology in Lagos State as a whole.

With modern and technological advancement becoming more and more available and more interactive, creatives can leverage digital kits, designs and approach to create not just content, but products and services that would impact the economical landscape through these channels that brings the world closer to what the people of our great city have to offer in areas of digital and creative innovations.

Garage Developers are rising every day, with the emergence of successful unicorns and the global market interest in the African continent increasing, we can see Lagos taking a more centre stage in producing the next batches of developers turn start up founders creating products in major areas like retail technology, virtual reality, augmented reality, real estate, and entertainment technology. Though many businesses and innovators have tried several of these sectors in the past, changing times and future technology has made it even more possible for more creators, developers and designers to have access to creating their own community and audiences on a global scale before even hitting investors desk. What this would do is allow a more thriving and competitive economy in areas of innovation and numerious product launches and prosperities in the next few years, globally, and especially, out of Lagos.

Collaboration is becoming more important with each passing day and many innovators are beginning to experience the difficulties of building in silos. What this has done, is that it’s creating a more open source and resource system in Lagos like never before, however, there would be certain trend changes that would impact this improvement further.

• Cross-Sector Networking Events: More event pop ups and demands for professional, tech driven events in collaboration with traditional creatives would be on the rise, seeing traditional creative leveraging technology to not just retain relevance, but improve market share and competency. These networking events would see photography exploring AI and VR. We will see more movies in virtual spaces and tourism in augmented realities. With the success of businesses and places like CC HUB and the founder leading the charge in technology innovation in the country, we will see a rise in co-working spaces that allows and supports these events and networking channels in smaller communities across Lagos state.

• Collaborative Projects and Initiatives: Encouraging joint projects that leverage the strengths of both tech and traditional creatives, establishing initiatives that fund and support collaborative ventures, promoting the creation of innovative products, services, and content.

• Digital Skills Development for Traditional Creatives: Providing training programs specifically tailored to traditional creatives and in grass root cities that we don’t often discuss. technical innovations and meetups would enhance the digital literacy and technical skills of traditional creators and the grassroot indigenes which would in turn, impact the growth rate of digital fluency, improving the state’s scale for technological global influence. A rise in mentorship programs where tech experts can guide traditional creatives in adopting and integrating digital tools into their workflows would be a common factor that will lead to this digital Lagos.

• Government Support and Policies: We can already see the intensional policies by the government of Lagos State to impact the creative sector more by creating hubs, villages and centres for innovation across the states, with recent implementation of policies that encourage collaboration and innovation between the governments and tech nomads across the state as well as the creative sectors, we can expect further growth in collective and generative progression of tech within the state. It is however important to state that these policies and creative initiative must span across all creative and technical areas, spanning entertainment, arts, culture, beauty, documentation and documentories, sports, digital content creations, software and hardware engineering, digital designs, VR and AR, AI and web 3 technology, finance and cryptocurrency. Why it is important to span as far as possible is to ensure we don’t experience a growth spur in one area and an epileptic decline in another as we’ve seen in recent times where entertainment and fintech have seemingly become the definition of creativity and technology.

• Cultural Exchange Programs: For Lagos to leverage more growth, collaboration is critical, and this means collaboration across border, both nationally and internationally. But first, we start within, collecting talents from all across Nigeria that seek to build first in Lagos, taking advantage of our fertile ground to attract more skills through cultural exchange programs that promote understanding and appreciation between traditional cultures, landmarks, beliefs, tech and creatives. We can go as far as encouraging professionals to work temporarily in each other’s industries to gain insights and foster a deeper appreciation for the value each sector brings to the ecosystem. 

In recent times we’ve seen the likes of Adebola Williams (Debola Lagos) who has been one of the fore-runners of this innovative approach through the “MITTA CENTRE” record great impact in both continental and global markets, one of such result was the #MITTACentreCreativeExchange that saw the talented Rwandan musician, Boukuru explore Lagos and snag the prized slot of a performance at the Flytime Festival here in Lagos in December of 2023. Seeing events and activities like these take root from a more political and geographical approach would not only increase visibility and prosperity but improve national, continental and international harmonic progression.

• Open Data Initiatives: Support open data initiatives that allow for the sharing of non-sensitive information between sectors. This will enable businesses to access relevant data that can inform decision-making and inspire collaborative projects.

• Community Engagement and Advocacy: It is important to engage with local communities to ensure that the integration of tech and traditional creative elements is culturally sensitive and inclusive.

Crowd Funding and Self Made businesses are an expected trend. It is data proven that customer centricity is a critical aspect of business growth and expansion, dependencies of external and VC funding though impactful has created a selective chun of innovation as they are impacted by those whose funds are at stake and the communities where these Capital ventures are most available. We’ve also observed a slow and steady decline in the funding market as many projects that lost customer confidence but gainned investors trust through glittering products have failed over-time. What this would do for the future of technology in Lagos is see more community led businesses where customer centricity would impact business success.

In conclusion, Lagos has led the race for innovation in Nigeria as it has allowed multiple talents rise and grow with access to global market and the strong spirit of resourcefulness, these coming tough times predicted by the best experts and analyst will in turn cause more innovation within the state, as more and more people will seek to stand above the line of deterioration. Tough times have always raised tough folks, this is also true for Lagos and we are bound to see a quantum leap in innovation, creativity, evolutionary businesses and economic expansion through these high and fast rising communities of survivors.