President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced plans by the government to increase its budget allocation to the development of science, technology and innovation (STI) to drive the Ghana beyond Aid agenda.
According to the President, countries that had transitioned from under-development to development did so on the back of the application of science, and expressed the government's commitment to use the same approach to bridge the country's industrialisation gap.
Speaking at a conference on the theme "Bridging the technology gap towards Ghana beyond Aid and youth employment" here yesterday, President Akufo-Addo said the allocation of one per cent of the country's GDP to support STI would be increased to 2.5 per cent.
The week-long conference, organised by the Ghana Institution of Engineering, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and Mastercard Foundation, created the platform for technocrats and academia in the science sector to discuss the technology gap in the country.
President Akufo-Addo said despite the country's democratic successes in recent years, it had a lot of unfinished business in providing dignified standard of living and moving the country onto the path of sustained prosperity.
The missing link, according to him, is due to the technology gap in the country, coupled with the structure of the economy which is largely dependent on the production of raw materials and over dependence on foreign aid.
He announced a number of initiatives his administration was implementing to bridge the technology gap to enable STI drive the Ghana beyond Aid agenda and make the country self-reliant and less dependent on foreign capital and technology.
The initiatives, he said, including ensuring that sectorial policies, programmes and strategies were implemented on the basis of the country's overall STI policy.
He said government had positioned STI at the centre of the country's development agenda and noted that the sector ministry had developed an STI policy framework to support the country's development programmes.
"I have recently established a Presidential Advisory Council on STI as an advisory body situated at the Presidency. The council is composed of eminent Ghanaian scientists from diverse fields to advise the President on matters relating to STI," he said.
Additionally, he said an inter-ministerial coordinating council on STI had been established to maintain close collaboration among key ministries and industries on matters relating to STI.
"My government is setting up the Ghana Innovation and Research Commercialisation Centre within the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to spearhead the partnership between MESTI, CSIR, the private sector, and nation's tertiary academic institutions".
"The centre will serve as a bridge between the government, public research institutions, academia on one hand, and industry on the other hand. It will also provide incubation centres, the basic facilities our innovators would need. Those with industrial potential would be supported to commercialise," he said.
President Akufo-Addo said a number of innovations had been showcased by individuals, student groups, start-ups and institutions, with many of them possessing the potential to solve problems especially in the areas of energy production, transportation, agriculture, cyber security, among others.
The President of the Ghana Institution of Engineering, Steve Amoaning-Yankson, said the conference, which had participants from both home and in the diaspora, would consider reasons behind the country's technology gap since independence six decades ago.
He said the participants would propose suggestions for the government on how the country could bridge the gap and be part of the "global big players", in terms of science and technology.
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