The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has called for support for young innovators to enable their innovations see the light of the day.
According to him, innovators should be supported and nurtured to enable them come out with products and services to solve the numerous problems in the country.
Prof Frimpong-Boateng who himself has pioneered a lot of innovations in Ghana made the call at a Citi FM’s Innovation Summit held in Accra, as part of the ongoing Citi Business Festival.
He maintained that innovation is one of the most important contributors to economic growth in any country of which Ghana is no exception.
“Innovators create wealth, attract investment and provide job opportunities. They also create new supply chains and boost exports”, Prof Frimpong-Boateng told participants at the well-attended summit.
To this end, he noted that the government’s promise of setting up Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Fund to drive country’s agenda of promoting innovation and technology is on course.
The fund, according to him would among others guide the allocation and disbursement of the government’s funding support to innovators to help speed up the country’s innovation and technology agenda.
“We have finished drafting the innovation policy; we are going to set up the STI fund and everything that goes into it. We will pass a law that will accommodate all these things and when that is done, and when we are given the money, then we know where to put it in order to assess the disbursements,” Prof Frimpong-Boateng explained.
In the heat of the 2016 electioneering, the then candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo now the President had promised that his government will allocate one percent of the country’s GDP to develop innovative and technological ideas that propel economic growth.
Currently, 0.25 percent of Ghana’s GDP goes into innovation, technology and research which the current government is working hard to increase to one percent of GDP.
Although some people were pessimistic about innovation in the country, contributing to a panel discussion themed-‘Creating Our Future’, Prof Fred McBagonluri, the Head of Engineering Department at the Ashesi University College, had a contrary view.
He argued: “We are not in a hopeless situation but we lack visionary leadership to drive innovation. We should not lament over our situation. The future is bright than before”.
Prof McBagonluri added: “Innovation is a journey. Just America and Britain started something and it worked doesn’t mean that same thing can work in Ghana. Let’s innovate our own unique innovations which suit our country needs”.
He used the occasion to advice innovators in the country to try and tell their stories convincingly to enable their products and services accepted by the markets.
The Google Ghana Country Manager, Estelle Akofio-Sowah added that ;” profiting from innovation could only be achieved if we start to celebrate our innovators”.
On his part, Michael Quarshie, a co-founder and Managing Director of Persol Systems Limited, a leading ICT firm, urged the innovators to come out with innovative products and services to address the present challenges of the country.
For Bright Simon, Founder and President of mPedigree said: “To fix the innovation problem, we need to transform the country’s procurement sector to ensure that the chunk of contracts go to the local innovators”.
Earlier in the night, some innovators briefed the participants on their innovations and inventions.
The event was moderated by the Director of News Programming at Citi FM, Bernard Avle.
The month-long festival being organised by the Citi FM in partnership with MTN Business is focused on thematic areas such as financial inclusion, housing and real estate, foreign direct investments, innovation and tourism.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
