NITDA National AI Innovation Challenge 2026

The NITDA National AI Innovation Challenge 2026 is a Nigerian competition inviting teams to develop and deploy AI-powered solutions using N-ATLAS, Nigeria’s open-source multilingual large language model. Teams submit an original artefact integrated with N-ATLAS to address defined problem statements, with participation open to Nigerian citizens or Nigerian-registered entities and requiring institutional endorsement where applicable. Winners receive recognition and opportunities across academia, innovation and government channels.

For shortlisted teams: technical mentorship, API credentials for N-ATLAS, compute credits, onboarding support, and invitations to Nigeria AI Innovators Summit. For winners: recognition, potential government pathways and ecosystem opportunities.

All team members must be Nigerian citizens or registered Nigerian entities; individual applicants must be Nigerian citizens aged 18 or above; diaspora teams must have at least 50% of members based in Nigeria.

Submit an original artefact integrated with N-ATLAS via the official NAIC webpage; team lead must be enrolled or employed by a Nigerian university or research institution; provide institutional endorsement letter.