President John Dramani Mahama has officially announced the operationalisation of the Ghana National Research Fund (GNRF), marking a significant step toward bridging the long-standing gap between academia and industry in Ghana.
Speaking at the opening of the African Academy of Sciences (ARISE) meeting in Accra on Thursday, President Mahama described the GNRF as “the dream of our beloved president of blessed memory, Professor John Evans Atta Mills,” and expressed pride in bringing that vision to life.
The Fund, established under Act 1056 of 2020, is designed to serve as a dedicated financial vehicle to support research and development (R&D) across critical sectors including agriculture, health, education, energy, environment, and digitalization. It will support both basic and applied research while encouraging cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration.
President Mahama appointed Professor Abigail Opoku-Mensah as the first administrator of the Fund and announced the constitution of a governing board chaired by renowned plant biotechnologist, Professor Eric Yirenkyi Danquah.
“It will fund research infrastructure like improving our laboratories in our research institutions and technology generation in key sectors of our economy,” President Mahama explained.
He further emphasized the fund’s strategic role in ensuring that research outputs do not remain in academic silos, but instead contribute directly to economic growth and public well-being.
“Importantly, it will also connect academia with industry and policy, ensuring that research outputs are effectively translated into real-world solutions,” he said.
Annual Science-Industry Forum Launched
In a bid to strengthen this link between scientific innovation and industrial application, the President also launched an annual Scientific and Industrial Interface Review Forum.
Developed by the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) in partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the forum aims to create a consistent platform for dialogue between Ghana’s leading scientists, entrepreneurs, and business leaders.
“We believe that sustained dialogue and cooperation between researchers and industrial actors will catalyze the uptake of locally developed technologies and processes, thereby enhancing productivity and creating jobs,” President Mahama stated.
He lamented the frequent underutilization of research findings and stressed that research must result in tangible improvements in people’s lives.
“We don’t research just for the sake of researching — you must research so that it makes a difference in people’s lives,” he remarked.
New Policy Framework on Commercialization of Innovation
To complement these efforts, President Mahama also revealed that MESTI has been tasked with designing a comprehensive national policy framework for commercializing research and innovation.
The policy will focus on mechanisms such as patenting, licensing, public-private partnerships, innovation grants, startup incubators, and the development of technology parks.
It will also include a review of intellectual property laws and university-industry agreements to ensure that the economic value generated
