Koforidua Poly holds annual technology fair to connect technical groupings
Koforidua Polytechnic in the Eastern Region has introduced an annual technology fair with the aim of providing a unique and convenient opportunity for students, faculty and organisations with engineering or technical focus to connect through the exhibition of various innovative products.
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According to the polytechnic, there was the need to recognise the significant role innovation and invention played in national development which could be achieved by showcasing innovative products, a very unique feature of technical education.
The Rector of Koforidua Polytechnic, Professor Smile Gavua Dzisi, made this known at the 9th opening of the annual International Applied Research Conference of the polytechnic in Koforidua.
The three-day conference, which is on the theme, "Applied research: Innovative and strategic solutions to national development," and the technology fair, concurrently ongoing, have brought together distinguished personalities from various fields.
New ideas
Forty-two academic papers are to be presented at the conference, which seeks to provide a platform for discussing research findings, collaborations and investment opportunities, as well as opportunity for exhibition of new ideas and products on technology, while over 10 institutions and departments are exhibiting their products at the fair.
She said the key aim of the conference was to provide the opportunity for participants to share ideas through educative encounters.
"The papers, discoveries and inventions to be presented at this year's conference cover a wide range of disciplines and in spite of the diversity, they manifest the need and attempts to seek new and sustainable ways of addressing our recurring challenges as we struggle to maintain and overcome our lower middle income status," she said.
She was sad that a common and dominant narrative about research findings, discoveries, and inventions was that they hardly travelled beyond the shelves of academic and research institutions.
"It is, however, my hope and prayer that at the end of this conference, industry, entrepreneurs, policy makers and other significant actors will take advantage of the very useful leads and explore them for solutions to our national woes," she added.
Commitment
Professor Dzisi said "in Koforidua Polytechnic, we are highly committed to strengthening research by providing financial resources annually to support research in the institution.Part of our research efforts has also been in close collaboration with other research institutions. We look forward, therefore, to building on the ideas and research proposals that will emerge from the two days of presentation, discussion and exchange of ideas".
She expressed the hope that the conference would encourage inter-disciplinary scientific discussion and exchange of ideas.
In a keynote address, Professor Emmanuel H. Y. Bobobee of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology called on the government to attract the youth into agriculture, especially in cassava cultivation.
He said whereas the cultivation of other crops was dwindling, that of cassava was the opposite and therefore urged all stakeholders to focus mainly on cassava because of its industrial potential.
He appealed to the government to support research innovations in order to make agriculture more attractive.