Research into science/technology innovations doesn’t gather dust – CSIR
Dr Victor Agyeman, the Director General of the Council for Scientific and Industry Research (CSIR), has debunked the assertion that research into science and technology innovations are placed on shelves to gather dust.
Dr Agyeman said the CSIR had developed 165 technologies and all those technologies had been well packaged, profiled and documented.
“We have prepared marketable tools in the form of business plans on these science and technology innovations targeted at some entrepreneurs in the private sector,” he said.
Dr Agyeman made this known when Business Plans on 10 out of the 165 technologies was launched in Accra.
The 10 key technologies, he said, include Gas Cabinet Fruit Dryer, Feed Pellet for Grass Cutters, Biogas Technology, Solar Dry Technology, Improved “Akosombo Strain” of Nile Tilapia using cage culture, and Oil Palm Mushroom Production.
Others are Mechanised Palm Kernel Separator, and Innovative Rain Harvesting Water Technology.
However, Dr Agyeman said the “promotion, uptake and commercialisation of those developed technologies had not been encouraging” adding that “valuable information to unearth their business potential had mainly been confined to the research and academic circles”.
Dr Agyeman, therefore, challenged industries to take up risk by tapping into the potentials of science and technology to propel the rapid economic growth of the country.
He noted that apart from risk, high interest rates and inflation continued to remain a challenge to businesses.
According to Dr Agyeman, he was of the belief that business plans developed by the CSIR would serve as “window to unearth the business potential of the developed technologies to the private sector for the greater betterment of Ghana’s socio-economic development.”
Dr Agyeman said the CSIR, under the Ghana Skills and Technology Development Project, has, therefore, established a Technology, Development and Transfer Centre (TDTC) house by CSIR-STEPRI.
He said the CSIR-TDTC was aimed at bridging the gap between research and the private sector through an effective technology development and transfer system that could constantly engage private sector on their technology needs.
He cited Malaysia and Sri Lanka as some of the countries that had taken up research into palm and coconut respectively adding that those products were fetching high revenue.
Source: GNA