The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) is supporting the transformation of research output and innovative ideas into industrial products and services through the Ghana Innovation & Research Commercialization Center (GIRC-Centre) platform.
The platform brings together government, public research institutions, academia, innovation hubs, and the private sector to drive and grow collaborative research.
The Director for Science, Technology and Innovation of MESTI, Mr Kwamena Essilfie Quaison, announced this on Thursday at a workshop to equip media professionals and researchers with the necessary skills and knowledge to communicate research and innovative outputs effectively.
The workshop was organized by the MESTI in collaboration with Heritos Labs. Heritos Labs is a game-changing product development house, software engineering enclave, research centre and innovation services hub.
Mr Essilfie Quaison expressed the belief that “current efforts being made to ensure effective collaboration will help to foster the development of innovation ecosystem, promote skills development and support entrepreneurship programmes in Ghana, ultimately contributing to economic growth and development.”
Dr Abena A. Yeboah-Banin, a senior lecturer at the School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana in a presentation emphasized the need for researchers to connect their research findings to society through the industry.
She urged journalists to be the bridge between academia and industry by communicating various research works undertaken by academia to the public.
The CEO of Heritos Labs, Mr Derrydean Dadzie, said that Heritos Labs is on a journey to advance the commercialization of research and innovation in Ghana.
He advised journalists and media professionals to be “innovation evangelists” and help propagate research innovations. That, according to him, would make the innovations “meaningful assets and industry resources that can be used to advance our natural resources.”
Irene Wirekoaa Osei, ISD
