The Grand Finale of the Futurum Innovation Awards Season II was held on 30 July 2026 at the Ajose Lecture Theatre, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. The event drew an audience of students, faculty, alumni and industry partners in person and across a global live stream. The evening celebrated the finest of final-year engineering research at OAU and reaffirmed the University’s standing as a wellspring of solutions to pressing national challenges.

Ayokunle Durojaiye emerged overall winner for his Design and Development of a Biomimetic Dialysis High-Flux Membrane Mechanism for Improved Hemodynamics Performance, receiving a cash prize of ₦500,000 alongside a ₦260,000 course voucher courtesy of Hardé Business School and True Flutter. Samuel Olowosile was adjudged First Runner-Up for his work on Theft Detection in Electrical Metering Systems, receiving a cash prize of ₦300,000 and a ₦260,000 voucher. Sodiq Abdulrahman took Second Runner-Up honours for the Development of a Machine Learning-Based Object Detection and Robotic Pick-and-Place Waste Sorting System, receiving ₦200,000 and a ₦260,000 voucher.

The supervising lecturers of all three projects were honoured with ₦200,000 each and also received ₦400,000 Executive Learning Bundle from Hardé Business School, in recognition of the mentorship that shapes such distinguished research. Every one of the 200 students present at the venue also received course vouchers valued at ₦60,000, ensuring the evening’s dividends extended well beyond the podium.

In his keynote address, Dr Adedayo Omotunde, the Founder of Futurum set out the mission driving the Awards: to close the distance between the laboratory and the marketplace — ensuring that the research nurtured within our lecture halls does not end its life on a shelf, but is drawn out to confront the nation’s most stubborn challenges and connected to industry partners and funding needed to carry it into the world. Futurum exists, he affirmed, to see the ingenuity of our students recognised, resourced, and put to work in the service of the country.

Professor Kayode Ayodele of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, in his remarks, congratulated all present and observed that the experience of the evening carried more weight than any lecture, describing the initiative as the answer to the question of “what next” in an age where artificial intelligence increasingly displaces much of what is done in the classroom.

Dr. Funso Ariyo, Head of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, who was represented by Dr H. Aliyu, looked ahead to the legacy of the initiative: “It is our hope that today’s event will inspire our students to pursue excellence, strengthen the relationship between our alumni and the Department, and motivate more graduates to contribute to the growth and development of their alma mater.” Delivering the closing remarks on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Babajide Odu, Director of the Central Office of Research, congratulated every participating student and thanked the Founder of Futurum. He adjudged the initiative very laudable, noting that it provides a platform for the recognition of the ingenuity of OAU students in crafting solutions of real value to industry.