By Anthony Adongo Apubeo, GNA
Accra, Oct. 14, GNA – Ghana has been urged to increase domestic investment in research and innovation to reduce its reliance on foreign grants and accelerate the development of home-grown solutions to national challenges.
Professor Abigail Opoku Mensah, Acting Administrator of the Ghana National Research Fund (GNRF), said sustainable domestic investment was critical to building a resilient research and innovation ecosystem capable of driving the country’s socio-economic transformation.
She said although partnerships with foreign development agencies had supported valuable research initiatives, excessive dependence on external funding exposed the sector to uncertainties arising from shifts in donor priorities and foreign policies.
“The actual investments required to accelerate a country’s innovation must first of all come from domestic sources,” she said.
Prof Mensah made the remarks while delivering the keynote address on the theme: “Ghana’s Research and Innovation Journey: The Journey So Far,” at the opening ceremony of the UK Media Excellence for Emerging Technologies (UK MEET) Fellowship’s Ghana residential programme in Accra.
The fellowship is being organised by Imperial Global Ghana with support from the United Kingdom Government through Imperial College London.
Prof Mensah said Ghana, like many African countries, remained below the African Union’s benchmark of allocating at least one per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to research and development.
She said the establishment of the GNRF followed years of advocacy by academia and industry for a dedicated national research funding mechanism.
She explained that the Ghana National Research Fund Act, 2020 (Act 1056), provided the legal framework for the fund, although its operationalisation took several years.
According to her, the fund’s governing board was inaugurated in June 2025, after which the Government provided an initial seed capital of GH¢50 million to establish the institution and develop the systems required for its operations.
She said President John Dramani Mahama officially launched the fund on June 16, 2026, and announced a catalytic allocation of GH¢100 million to support its operationalisation.
Prof Mensah noted that the fund had adopted a Research and Innovation Strategy for 2026-2030, with focus areas including research talent development, competitive funding, industry partnerships, policy support, sustainable financing and strong governance.
She said the strategy identified five initial national research missions: food systems; health innovation and biosecurity; climate and environmental sustainability; digital and industrial transformation; and governance, policy and social systems.
Prof Mensah called for stronger collaboration among government, universities, public research institutions, industry and development partners to ensure that research findings translated into practical innovations that benefited citizens.
Ms Amma Boakye-Danquah, Associate Director of Imperial Global Ghana, said effective science communication was essential to ensuring that research findings reached the people they were intended to serve.
She said researchers and journalists shared a responsibility to ask critical questions, verify information and stimulate public discourse on issues of national importance, including maternal mortality, flooding, extreme heat and artificial intelligence.
Ms Boakye-Danquah said Imperial College London recognised the importance of science communication and continued to support efforts aimed at strengthening public understanding of research and innovation.
Mr Ryan Davies of the British High Commission in Ghana said the UK MEET Fellowship was in its fourth year, with about 70 journalists having completed the programme over the previous three years.
He said while some alumni had produced impactful reports on science, technology, innovation, health and climate-related issues, others had established enduring professional relationships with researchers and fellow journalists.
The UK MEET Fellowship brings together journalists and content creators to strengthen their capacity to report on emerging technologies and science-related issues, including artificial intelligence, climate and environmental risks, biomedical innovation and the circular economy.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali/Bertha Badu-Agyei/Lydia Kukua Asamoah
Reporter: Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Reporter’s email: [email protected]