President John Dramani Mahama has set a GH¢6 billion annual research funding target for Ghana, declaring that true economic sovereignty cannot be achieved without scientific sovereignty.
He also announced an immediate catalytic allocation of GH¢100 million to operationalise the Ghana National Research Fund (GNRF) for 2026.
President Mahama announced the allocation in Accra yesterday at the launch of the fund established under the Ghana National Research Fund Act, 2020 (Act 1056) to mobilise, manage and allocate domestic financial resources for research, innovation and technology development.
Although Parliament passed the legislation in 2022, the fund remained dormant until last year when President Mahama appointed and swore in a 13-member governing board to begin operationalising it.
The launch was held on the theme: Resetting Ghana: Financing Research for National Transformation.
Context
The GH¢6 billion target is anchored in the African Union’s (AU’s) benchmark of committing one per cent of GDP to research and development.
With Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rising from GH¢88 billion in 2024 to GH¢114 billion currently, one per cent translates to approximately GH¢6 billion annually.
Ghana’s current statutory cap stands at 0.5 per cent, a ceiling the President said must be revisited.
“Unfortunately, Act 1056 is contrary to the AU target. We capped it at not more than 0.5 per cent of GDP. So already we are misaligned with the AU target, and we need to look at that,” he said.
The GH¢100 million seed allocation, he said, would support competitive national research grants, doctoral and postdoctoral research programmes, digital grants management systems and strategic innovation initiatives aligned with national development priorities.
President Mahama directed the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and the fund’s governing board, to ensure its transparent and results-oriented deployment.
The fund
The GNRF is expected to provide researchers, universities, innovators and industry players with the resources needed to develop solutions to some of the country’s most pressing challenges while strengthening Ghana’s position as a knowledge-driven economy.
To guide its work, the fund has developed a Research and Innovation Strategy for 2026-2030, anchored on six strategic priorities: research talent development, competitive research funding, innovation and industry partnerships, policy and national development support, sustainable finance and capital formation, and institutional strengthening and governance.
The strategy also outlines five national research missions to guide investment and prioritisation over the next five years.
They are food systems transformation and agricultural resilience, health innovation and biosecurity, digital and industrial transformation, climate and environmental sustainability, and governance, data and social systems.
Funding support
President Mahama said the operationalisation of the fund was a deliberate policy decision to place research, scientific capability and innovation at the centre of national development planning.
The President acknowledged the administration of former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for facilitating the passage of the legislation through Parliament and paid tribute to former President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, whose vision contributed to the establishment of the fund.
He indicated that the country’s challenge had never been a lack of ideas or vision but rather the absence of a predictable and sustainable financing mechanism to support research and innovation.
“In the 21st century, nations can no longer compete solely on the basis of natural resources, geographical advantage or access to capital. Nations must compete on ideas.
They must compete on innovation.
They must compete on the ability to transform knowledge into productivity and productivity into prosperity for their people,” he said.
President Mahama stressed that the fund was directly linked to government’s broader economic agenda, including the 24-hour Economy initiative, industrialisation, agricultural modernisation, healthcare improvement, renewable energy expansion and digital transformation.
“Every major pillar of our economic strategy demands innovation. Every innovation requires research.
Every research ecosystem requires predictable financing.
The fund is, therefore, not peripheral to the development agenda. It is central to it,” he said.
Operational progress
The acting Administrator of the GNRF, Prof. Abigail Opoku Mensah, described the launch as a major milestone in the country’s efforts to establish a structured and sustainable system for financing research and innovation.
She said significant progress had been made since the inauguration of the governing board in June 2025 to transform the GNRF from a statutory body into a fully functional institution.
According to her, technical and strategic committees had been established to strengthen governance and oversight, while a functional secretariat and permanent office in East Legon had been secured to support the fund’s operations.
Prof. Opoku-Mensah said the GNRF had also developed its five-year strategic plan and research agenda and built partnerships with key international institutions.
She added that GNRF had launched its first pilot research call, focusing on disruptive technologies that supported the Sustainable Development Goals.
