Gov’t now takes research and development serious

By Ama Achiaa Amankwah
The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Kwadwo Baah Wiredu has said that government recognizes the need to link the country’s commercial and industrial sector to research, innovation and development, in order to achieve accelerated growth.

He explained that the government seeks to achieve the set targets in the 2006 budget statement and economic policy, by ensuring that projects and programmes outlined in the budget are carried out to achieve lasting results.

Mr. Baah Wiredu stated this when he received the report of the task force for effective utilization of research findings by industry The 2005 budget statement and economic policy introduced a measure under policy initiatives to give special support to industries that will commercialize research findings.

Government re-introduced the measure in the 2006 budget statement to ensure its implementation. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning together with the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports and the National Council for Tertiary Education, (NCTE) have been taking the necessary steps to support research commercialization.

****The formation of task force comprising the Association of Ghana Industries, (AGI), NCTE, MoFEP and the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, (CSRI), is one of such steps. The AGI acted as the convener of the group which was tasked to review the proposal submitted by NCTE, dialogue with the various research institutions to determine ways to catalogue the findings and prepare a concrete action plan to commercialize pozzolana (a sandy volcanic ash of economic value), glucose syrup and activated carbon. The road map was to come with proposals that would detail the institutions to take up the production of the three products on commercial basis.

Mr. Baah Wiredu observed that the current era of linking industry to research is a good sign of private partnership. “The results of activities of the private must be linked up to government initiatives such as the National Youth Employment Programme and micro financing scheme so that young people can get work to do.” He urged private sector groups to take personal interest to ensure that results are commercialized.

According to the chairman of the eleven-member committee, Mr. Robert Nketia, the report is unique as it will be used efficiently to yield results. “The report is aligned with what the budget can afford and comes out with specific programmes and strategies to implement.”

The committee recommends that by 2007, the Technology Transfer Centre should be established whilst the site for the Technology Incubator Park should be acquired and three other research findings including local production of glucose syrup should be commercialized. The report forecasts that the building of the incubator park by 2008 would concretize the agenda for continuous commercializing of research findings.

It adds, “All research institutions- CSIR, universities and polytechnics should set up technology transfer desk that would catalogue and analyze research findings of their institutions, forward them to the centre and liaise with it on aspects of commercialization.”

It concludes with a case study on two research findings of the Cocoa Research Institute to drive home how beneficial government’s financial support for the utilization of research findings is to the nation.