New science, technology and innovation policy in the offing
The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) is drafting a new policy which aims at improving the country’s technological performance as well as its innovation systems.
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The policy, which is expected to be finalised by the end of the year, seeks to build strong science, technology and innovation (STI) capacity to drive the socio-economic development for sustainable transformation of the economy.
STI fund
As part of the processes for drafting the policy, a stakeholder consultative workshop was organised by the ministry and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Science and the Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) in Accra.
Making a presentation on the draft policy, the Director of CSIR-STEPRI, Dr George Owusu Essegbey, said the previous policy on STI drafted in 2010 did not yield any fruit and was not implemented due to financial constraint.
Therefore, he said the new document highlighted mechanisms to raise enough funds to fully implement the policy to achieve the nation’s objective for poverty reduction, competitiveness of enterprise, sustainable environmental management and industrial growth using STI.
A national science, technology and innovation fund, Dr Essegbey noted had been proposed in the policy. He also said the government allocation to the sector would be pegged to at least one per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
By doing that, he said, the government would be meeting the recommendations of the African Union (AU) to commit one per cent of its GDP to funding science and research.
Again, Dr Essegbey said the private sector also needed to be encouraged to support the funding of science and technology and advocated the institution of an attractive tax incentive mechanism for contributors to the instituted funds.
STI council
In the quest to give the necessary attention to science and technology, he added that a presidential advisory council to give counsel to the President on matters related to science, technology and innovation would also be established.
As part of their activities, he said the council would advise the President, as well as related ministers on STI policies, and ensure coordination and harmonisation of the country’s STI policies under the ministry.
The challenges
Addressing the workshop, the Deputy Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Mrs Patricia Appiagyei, said a new policy that articulated expert knowledge about solving local problems was needed.
Science, technology and innovation, she mentioned, were essential ingredients in the industrialisation and sustainable development of a nation.
But in Ghana, she said, the sector faced numerous challenges, including STI fragmentation, lack of coordination and poor linkage to local industries.
The need for new approaches which would allow the country to take stock of its national systems of innovation, she said, informed the drafting of a new policy.
The acting Director of the STI at the MESTI, Ms Adelaide Asante, said the country had heavily relied on donor partners as government funding for STI was insufficient.
“In 2015, we had our donor partners supporting us with over GH¢300million as against government’s allocation of GH¢ 89 million. This means that our survival was heavily dependent on foreign contributions,” she said.
Other challenges, Ms Asante added, were the inadequate implementation of STI policies and programmes, inadequate infrastructure and inadequate human capacity, among others.