Science research centre to be established
A SCIENCE research centre is to be established in the country to facilitate the nation’s development with the support of the Republic of Korea.
The operationalisation of the Ghana-Korea innovation and research commercialisation centre is being carried out through the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), in collaboration with the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), a research and development organisation, as part of Korea’s K-Innovation ODA Partnership Programme.
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The objective of the three-year collaboration is to support Ghana to develop a robust and economically viable technological innovation system.
This came to light during an online and in-person dissemination workshop in Accra yesterday during which a draft master plan for the establishment and operationalisation of the centre was discussed.
Objective
Speaking to journalists at the end of the workshop, the Special Advisor to the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Oliver Boachie, said research outcomes at the centre would help in solving the nation's problems, including job creation.
Under the initiative, he said, there would be coordination in planning of research and innovation in the country's universities, public research institutions and other innovation hubs to ensure outcomes were aligned to national development objectives.
"This will ensure that we do research that is relevant to our needs and contribute to the development of the nation," Mr Boachie added.
He said it would also focus on how to provide infrastructure, funding and other support to researchers to enable them to do their work better.
Mr Boachie further said that the centre would help build capacity by training researchers and innovators in solving problems.
So far, he said the master plan had identified three avenues for the mobilisation of funds. It includes the Ghana national research fund, set up by law where the government allocates not less than one per cent of GDP annually to research and innovation.
Other sources will be from development partners such as the Korean government and fees from services to be provided at the centre.
Sharing experiences
A Senior Advisor and Vice-President of the University of Seoul, Dr Myung-Do Oh, said sharing Korea's development experiences and successful implementation stories with its Ghanaian counterpart would go a long way to ensure an effective implementation of the master plan.
He said the initiative would contribute to upgrading the capacity of technocrats and researchers in Ghana.
Additionally, Dr Oh said they would establish sustainable systems for the operations and maintenance of the centre.
"Ghana, like Korea, will grow into a country in Africa which has overcome the difficulties and shortcomings in science and technology," he added.
