Applications are open for Nigeria’s National AI Innovation Challenge 2026, a build-focused programme inviting Nigerian researchers, developers, startups and technology teams to create working solutions using N-ATLAS, Nigeria’s sovereign multilingual artificial intelligence model.
The challenge is implemented by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, through the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) and the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI). It seeks to move N-ATLAS from an open-source model towards practical national infrastructure that developers, businesses and citizens can use.
Three Challenge Areas
Applicants must submit under one of three problem statements:
- Developer Infrastructure: Build tools that make N-ATLAS easier for developers to integrate, test and deploy, including SDKs, playgrounds, fine-tuning tools and developer documentation.
- Voice-First Access: Develop accessible services using N-ATLAS language and speech capabilities, including applications for education, agriculture, primary health information, civic information and financial literacy.
- Sectoral Fine-Tuning: Adapt N-ATLAS for specific Nigerian contexts such as education, healthcare, smallholder agriculture, legal rights or financial literacy.
Who Can Apply
The challenge has two participation tracks.
- Academia & Research is open to university research teams, academic AI labs, postgraduate researchers and faculty. Teams must have two to five members and include an enrolled student or postgraduate researcher, a faculty supervisor and institutional endorsement.
- Innovation & Enterprise is open to registered startups, technology companies, social enterprises, independent developers and innovation hubs. Teams must have two to five members. Diaspora teams are permitted, provided at least 50% of members are based in Nigeria.
All team members must be Nigerian citizens or registered Nigerian entities.
This Is a Build-Only Challenge
Concepts and pitch decks alone are not eligible. Every submission must include a working technical artefact genuinely integrated with N-ATLAS and evidence of real-world validation.
Depending on the chosen problem statement, validation requirements include at least two external beta testers, 50 documented user interactions, or a benchmark of at least 500 examples against the base N-ATLAS model.