Create science, technology commission — Prof. Allotey
The President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS), Professor Francis K. A. Allotey, has advocated the creation of a National Science, Technology and Innovation Commission to facilitate the full utilisation of the country’s science and technology capabilities.
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He said the commission should serve as a think tank for national strategies and policies to drive the country’s transformation.
Prof. Allotey was speaking at a lecture in Accra last Monday organised by the GAAS on the topic, “Science, Technology and Innovation Enterprise, a Platform For Economic Growth and Transformation of Ghana”.
The lecture was held at the start of the five-day 2014 GAAS Founder’s Week being marked on the theme: “Transforming the Economy of Ghana”.
Proposals
Prof. Allotey also called for the establishment of an independent funding agency for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in the country, similar to the National Science Foundation of the USA, the National Research Foundation of South Africa, the Science and Engineering Council of the UK, as well as an STI Research Fund.
“Some of the functions of the proposed funding agency will be to advise the government on STI budget requirements and disbursements on prioritised research projects,” he said.
Prof. Allotey proposed two competitive research funders: a National Research Foundation (NRF) to be operated by the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation for non-academic institutions and an Academic Research Fund to be operated by the Ministry of Education for academic institutions.
He also suggested that some of the major ministries, such as Foreign Affairs, Energy, Food and Agriculture, Trade and Communications, should create STI divisions.
He singled out capital and entrepreneurship as prerequisites for transferring science and technology into wealth-creating industries.
“We must provide the enabling atmosphere to assist the transition from science to business to take discoveries out of the laboratory into the market and eventually into the hands of those who will benefit from these discoveries,” he said.
Prof. Allotey advised that the country’s innovators must be encouraged to be more than just entrepreneurs, stressing that rather they must be science-driven entrepreneurs who would use the full scope of their talent, creativity and intelligence to create wealth and real-world value.
“In Ghana, when someone is rich and successful, the first thing we say is the person is a thief, instead of creating the enabling environment for people to succeed,” he said.
Failure to apply science
The GAAS President said Ghana, which had contemporaries such as Malaysia and South Korea, had lagged behind in the application of science to develop its economy, while those countries had used science to transform their economies.
“Despite the numerous initiatives and interventions made by successive governments, Ghana, unlike countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea, has been unable to develop fully the scientific and technological base to address the nation’s basic human needs of food, health care, shelter, energy, transportation and communications,” he said.
Prof. Allotey attributed that failure by the country to a host of factors, including the lack of clear government policies on STI and the unavailability of a mechanism for the coordination of STI activities in the country to avoid duplication of efforts to promote synergy.
