MESTI and Heritors Labs hold stakeholder engagement on operationalisation of National Research Fund

Heritors Labs Limited, a web 3.0 company, has convened a strategic stakeholders meeting at the Ministry of Environment Science, Technology and Innovation in Accra to discuss the operationalisation of the National Research Fund and the proposed Ghana Innovation Agency.

The meeting pooled all key ecosystem actors to agree on creating a single agency to coordinate and direct all research and innovation actions across the ecosystem, soliciting the unique roles of the respective parties.

Discussions centered on the National Research Fund law—which enjoins the government to finance research and innovation—and the drafting of the legal framework to transform the GIRC Centre into a state agency to coordinate all innovation-related actions, to be known as the Ghana Innovation Agency.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Oliver Boachie, the special advisor to the minister and director of Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) at MESTI, indicated that the lack of coordination of activities within the ecosystem has impeded the visible gains of research and innovation on the Ghanaian economy.

“There are a lot of research and innovation activities that are taking place within the ecosystem, but because there is no coordination, we are not making much progress,” he added.

He noted that with the right coordination of ecosystem activities, the country will greatly benefit from the impact of research and innovation in terms of driving growth and national development.

Stakeholders at the meeting unanimously agreed that the implementation of the National Research Fund was long overdue as research institutions and innovators rely on donor funding to support their works.

On her part, the Deputy Director-general of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Professor Marian Quain, noted that the lack of coordination in accessing funding for research has made it difficult for the researchers and innovators to secure reliable and dedicated funds to support their works.

She said: “There are too many entry points for research and innovation in the country; this makes it difficult for researchers, innovators and institutions like us [CSIR] to secure dedicated and reliable funding from donors who might already be supporting a sister state agency, university and NGOs to carry out similar research.”

Also, even though the CSIR has its peculiar research agenda, most of its research objectives are set by the donor or funding partners in the absence of government funds,” she added.

Heritors Labs is an awardee of the RISA Fund, a multi-country project funded by the UK through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to support research and innovation systems strengthening in Africa.

In line with the Fund’s goal, the company has been tasked with boosting the commercialisation of research and innovation in Ghana by deepening access to research and innovation programmes and building a robust infrastructure for the communication, advocacy, and marketing of research and innovation outcomes.

Its chief executive officer, Derrydean Dadzie, conveyed that the company will support the processes leading to the operationalisation of the NRF and the establishment of the GIA, which aligns with its research and innovation commercialisation efforts.

“Working behind the scenes, we will coordinate all the agreed actions and next steps of these projects, working closely with MESTI as the supervising ministry with that mandate,” he emphasised.

The country technical lead for the RISA Fund, Gameli Adzaho, assured stakeholders that funding support would be available to realise the project goals.

He said: “These projects align with the fund’s goal of fostering a favourable policy environment for research and innovation commercialisation through enabling policies and regulation.

The RISA Fund will support efforts leading to better coordination and stronger collaborations in research and innovation commercialisation in Ghana.”

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