CSIR is central to devt agenda - Prof. Frimpong-Boateng
The government says it will boost the operations of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to make it a force behind the country’s development agenda.
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The government will partner the CSIR to examine, explore and create science and technology catalysts for public and private sector development.
Interacting with the management and staff of the council, the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, said the government acknowledged that there could be no meaningful and sustainable development without science, technology and innovation.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng visited the council as part of his working tour of agencies under his ministry to familiarise himself with their operations and challenges and begin a discourse on how to improve their operations.
He said considering the role of science, technology and innovation in national development, the CSIR would be a major stakeholder in the national development agenda.
Partnership
The CSIR was expected to play a key role in the implementation of the One District, One Factory and the One Village, One Dam promise by the government.
“The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has instructed that the old ways of doing things, where majority of the country’s produce were exported in their raw forms, has to be changed,” he said.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng explained that the instruction was to promote and enhance the industrialisation agenda of the government.
The minister acknowledged and commended the enormous contributions of the centre to both the private and public sectors, but was worried that the public did not know so much about what it had been doing over the years.
“A business development desk will, therefore, be created at the ministry to promote the commercialisation of the council’s researches and better link them to industry to enhance your operations,” he said.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said the government was ready to give the Council all the necessary support to boost its operations, which is expected to result in the improvement of science and technology innovations for national development.
CSIR
For his part, the Director- General of the CSIR, Dr Victor Kwame Agyeman, said the council was committed to partnering the government to implement policies on scientific research and development.
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