Research and analysis

UK Science and Innovation Network summary: Ghana

Published 9 October 2024

1. Science and Innovation Technology

Ghana has been making efforts to strengthen its Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I) systems in the last few years with the development of different policies including ST&I policy, STI4SDGs, etc.

The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) oversees the leading Research and Development (R&D) institutions and mobilising domestic and external resources to build the nation’s ST&I system. MESTI is responsible for National ST&I policies while the Ministry of Education is responsible for National ST&I education policies. Other key ministries in the landscape include the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Communication and Digitalisation, Ministry Food and Agriculture, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Energy, etc.

Some of the key agencies include the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) with 13 specialised Research Institutes, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) which is hosting the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA), National Biosafety Authority (NBA), Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA), Ghana Digital Centres Limited, etc.

These institutions and organisations are complemented, enabled, and governed by national policies, plans and regulations, including: National STI Policy 2017, Technology Transfer Regulation, 1992, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Act, 1996, Cocoa Research Institute Act, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission Act, 2000, Intellectual property Act, 2003, Industrial Design Act, 2003, Copy Right Act, 2005, and the various public universities’ acts (e.g., KNUST Act, UG Act, etc).

Ghana currently ranks 99 out 123 countries surveyed in the 2023 Global Innovation Index, which was developed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University, and the INSEAD business school. The factors contributing to Ghana’s ranking include its Political Stability and Economic Growth, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, ICT access, ICT use, and the ecological sustainability of its energy use (source: https://www.trade.gov/market-intelligence/ghana-innovation).

2. UK partnership with Ghana on ST&I

The UK and Ghana have a strong history of working together in Science, Technology, and Innovation (ST&I) and can count scores of current, ongoing partnerships.

The work in Ghana is focusing on principal pillars such as: ecosystem coordination; knowledge and skill sharing; partnership co-creation; and commercialisation and scaling to advancing ST&I for mutual benefits between the two countries. In Ghana, we envision sustainable partnerships founded on mutual respect, transparency, and shared knowledge. We are convinced that ST&I is a foundation of national well-being, needed for the health, wealth, prosperity and security of our citizens.

UK and Ghana have jointly developed and launched a UK-Ghana ST&I Strategy (2023-2027) with the objective to increase the number, quality and impact of UK-Ghana ST&I partnerships for mutual benefits.

This joint strategy puts forward ambitions for making more of our collaborations in the public and private spheres and sets out how this could be achieved:

• enhance coordination with the ST&I space to promote transparency, collaboration, and coherence
• foster learning opportunities in ST&I where we can better learn from one another
• create lasting, sustainable collaborations by co-creating partnerships
• commercialise viable ST&I outputs by assisting innovators to find a bridge into industry

Sectoral priorities are:

• ICT and frontier technology
• agriculture and food processing
• health and pharmaceuticals
• education
• manufacturing

3. SIN contacts

Johnson Masagotin Singir
Science and Innovations Officer
British High Commission Accra
Julius Nyerere Link, off Gamel Abdul Nasser Avenue
PO Box 296
Accra, Ghana
Email: johnson.singir@fcdo.gov.uk