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An institute where knowledge is put to work
IKAR, the International Institute for Knowledge and Applied Research, is planned as a community for impact and excellence in Abuja, Nigeria.
A purposeful community that integrates education, knowledge, living and lifestyle in a green and elegant environment.
Why IKAR
IKAR is built on a simple idea: research is most valuable when it is applied, and learning is strongest when it happens inside a community. The institute brings teaching, applied research, enterprise and everyday life onto one secure, landscaped campus.
Academic buildings, an auditorium and event centre, a knowledge commons with an e-library and business centre, and a residential district with its own village centre are planned together on a 6.49-hectare site on the Abuja City Third Ring Road.
The campus is designed in a contemporary tropical modern style, with stone cladding, timber-look soffits, deep shading and generous planting, and laid out so that public and academic life sits apart from the quiet of home.
Our commitments
These five commitments guide what is built at IKAR and how the community will work.
Education excellence
Classrooms, lecture halls, laboratories and a library designed for rigorous teaching and learning.
Knowledge for impact
Research that is applied to real problems and shared through an e-library, bookstore and public events.
Innovation & entrepreneurship
A business centre and co-working spaces where ideas from the institute can become ventures.
Sustainable environment
A green buffer belt, rainwater harvesting, solar street lighting and walkable streets.
Community & well-being
Homes, a village centre and recreation space so faculty, staff and families can live where they work.
Knowledge. Innovation. Impact. Legacy.
Knowledge is the foundation: teaching, research and a library open to the community.
Innovation turns that knowledge into new ideas, tools and enterprises through the business centre and co-working spaces.
Impact is the test: whether the work improves lives in Nigeria and beyond.
Legacy is the aim: an institution and a community that last for generations.
Interested in partnering with IKAR?
We welcome conversations with academic institutions, researchers, funders, investors and organisations interested in the institute's work.