How can Ghana achieve and sustain Science, Technology and Innovation needed to transform Socio-Economic development?
Ghana has in place many of the individual components necessary for an efficient and effective Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) system. This is an important strength to build. It has several technology support and regulatory agencies and standardized intellectual property legislation and new updated National policy framework on STI policy.
The National Development Planning commission has recently integrated STI policy into the National Development Plan. For instance, Vision 2020- the country?s long term framework for development prepared by the National Development Planning Commission of Ghana, lays emphasis on technological development in the attainment of sustainable development of the country.
However, the policies and and institutions for STI have not been modernized, nor have they been aligned to economic growth and human development goals. A key feature of Ghana?s institutional landscape is the weak links and poor positive feedback between and among institutions, higher education and research institutions and private sector. There are also no incentives to work together and few mechanisms to encourage collaboration and communication. A number of studies have identified these limitation and weaknesses in Ghana?s STI system thereby, less transforming Ghana?s Socio-Economic Development.
There is a substantial evidence that Science, Technology and Innovation (STI)- The production and use of knowledge as well as the creation and adoption of new products (goods and services) and new ways of doing things, are keys to creating sustained economic growth and improved standards of living. They are central to the economic, trade competitiveness, social progress and development. STI is universally recognized as the most indispensable cog that connects all the spokes of the wheel of economic development, but one of the daunting challenges is finding the right matrix of factors that determine socio-economic development.
In our everyday interactions, most of us think of technology as some sophisticated piece of gadget that is supposed to do extraordinary things. Surely, technology, in the narrowest sense, can be conceived of as a piece of gadget. But in broader sense technology is more than that.
(Sahlman, Bruce-Larson and Westphal, 1985) simply refers Technology as the ?method for transforming inputs into products and the proceduring and organizational arrangement for carrying out the transformation. That is, means of using the method to undertake the transformation and how and why the method works.
To large extent, the state of Science, technological and Innovation (STI) progress of a society can tell a great deal about how deep a country taps into its wellspring of creativity and ingenuity. After all the evolutionary process of technological progress is Schumpeterian in nature because it organically involves creative destruction, the idea that the development of new goods make old ones obsolete, and thus require the introduction of new techniques of production. Creative destruction invariably leads to churning because new techniques of production require new skills, as old skills are rendered less useful.
Technology and Innovation have many dimensions: It may mean having the ability to produce larger quantities of output for given quantities of inputs- for example supposed we find a new way of land management that allows a farmer to produce more crop per an acre of the same land than before; it may mean producing better products- for example, steady improvement in the quality of our cocoa beans over time because of accumulated inter-generational knowledge of the cocoa production processes; or it may mean the introduction of new products- well we may not have developed any discernible products on our own in a very long time, but the importation of, for example, FM Radio stations and cell phones into our technological culture has really changed the social and political landscapes in Ghana.
The important question is: HOW CAN GHANA ACHIEVE AND SUSTAIN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION NEEDED TO TRANSFORM SOCIO- ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT?
Ghana will have to address some critical challenges if it is to emerge with a newly redesigned and more effective
Science, Technology and Innovation to transform development. It includes the following;
1. Creating incentives and appropriate public support mechanisms for private sector innovation, technology absorption, and industry driven research. The private sector remains relatively under-developed and its unlikely on its own to be capable of generating innovation of the type and on the scale needed to create a dynamic engine of growth in the medium and longer term without a more supportive policy environment that promotes innovation. The orientation of Ghana?s STI system should be actively shifted towards a demand-driven orientation.
This means that the private sector (firms, farmers and rural enterprises) should be the main focus and driver of technological development, backed up by effective government support. Public funding should provide incentives to Ghana?s STI institutions, universities and firms to concentrate on the concrete development challenges of the private sector. Government planners should set funding priorities and encourage the users of technology ? especially entrepreneurs and firms ? to define their own agendas within these priorities to the extent that they are able to do so with support provided as needed.
For example, farmers should identify their technology needs, whether for increasing crop production, improving harvesting or post-harvesting, or adding value to commodities. Government can provide support, especially for smallholder farmers, in providing information and in the identification of existing potentially useful technologies (e.g. through effective extension services). Funding could then be made available to these farmers to work with universities, research centres and other technology providers to help meet the needs that they have identified. Funding programmes, incentive schemes such as R&D tax credits, other support for STI development, intellectual property legislation, university and research institute incentives at the individual and institution level, and all other STI policies should have a primary focus on meeting the real STI needs of the firms, farmers and rural enterprises in Ghana.
There is a need to focus on promoting and supporting technological innovation in and by the private sector. High-performing enterprises ? essentially innovators ? should receive special recognition and incentives such as tax exemptions for expenditure on R&D, technology procurement, and innovation in general.
Secondly, the Government should establish a national funding scheme or instruments to promote R&D and technological innovation in the private sector. This could take the form of competitive grants to private firms that partner with public R&D institutes to conduct economic-oriented research or the development or adaptation of a particular technology. The Government of Ghana could invest in promoting the country as a special location for a few selected foreign technology businesses in a targeted manner in activities where this could help to create local linkages and stimulate local upgrading.
New incentives should be put in place for private- sector innovation that supports the country?s development priorities. Creating incentives for market-driven innovation and technology adoption, backed up by effective public support measures, should be a central focus of government policy.
2. Coordinating, management of STI and Improving Leadership – High level political commitment will be required to establish a new political deal for STI. Ghana?s funding for science and technology is relatively low by international standards, and is not sufficient to support high-quality, economically relevant STI institutions and the programmes that are needed to strengthen Ghana?s productive sector. However, these low levels of funding may, in turn, be justified by the relatively low relevance and quality of the existing STI system. The renewed commitment to STI for Ghana?s development that is displayed by Ghana?s Government must be accompanied by a willingness to commit to reform of the existing system.
This will require increasing support to areas of the STI system in line with national priorities and providing funding in the context of new programmes and policies designed to enhance the relevance and quality of the existing STI system. At the same time, areas of the STI system that are not performing should be forced to reform if they are to continue to receive public funds.
Coordination and management across Ghana?s entire STI system needs to be improved. STI touches and influences almost every industry and sector of Ghana?s economy and society. Multiple ministries, departments and agencies have STI responsibilities, including not just the MEST, but also the ministries of trade and industry, health, energy, agriculture, education, communications, and others.
The solution is not to centralize every STI asset under one ministry, but to improve the coordination of individual MDA decisions and ensure some general coherence to STI policy making and implementation. The development of effective linkages between individual ministries, departments and agencies should be promoted for all STI activities that are multi-agency in nature.
An STI coordinating body would work closely with all stakeholders involved in STI policy making. This would include relevant line ministries, international agencies seeking to establish STI cooperation programmes with Ghana, public research institutes and research universities, education and training institutions, private sector representatives, standards bodies, and health and safety agencies.
A sustainable scheme for financing STI must be introduced. This should prominently feature competitive and matching funding designed to reorient the STI system to focus on the needs of research and technology users ? that is to say, the private sector, farmers, and rural enterprises. Creating sustainable financing may mean redirecting some of the existing core funding of research institutes into competitive funding that will enable the productive areas of the STI system to thrive. This approach offers a promising way to enable necessary reforms at the research institutes within the existing funding envelope, without the politically difficult and perhaps counterproductive approach of eliminating research institutes.
Additional financing mechanisms for STI should be introduced, such as industry funds, association-based financing, tax incentives, and other measures.
International linkages should be fostered across the STI system, especially at firms, universities and research institutions should increase the number of applications to international research tenders, as well as their overall presence in international research networks. Universities should continue foreign exchange and ?sandwich? programmes for students. Finally, programmes should target Ghana?s diaspora in order to bring technology, technical knowledge, skills and entrepreneurial expertise to the private sector.
3. Growing the engineering, science and technical workforce. Emphasis must be placed on education and training to meet the needs of a modernized economy. Sup- port for science and engineering education should be increased at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. Innovative loan schemes, scholarships, and other means should be used to meet Ghana?s stated goal of a 60:40 ratio of science and technology to social science students in public universities
Science and mathematics education should be emphasized at all levels of the education system, from primary to postgraduate. New technologies, including ICTs, offer the opportunity to improve both access to education services and the quality of these services.
Opportunities for improving training outside of the formal education system should also be encouraged. This means that technical education, apprenticeships, in-service training, and other means should be supported to ensure the workforce is appropriately skilled to master new technologies, and to meet the demands of jobs in modern-day industry, agriculture and services.
Priority should be given to attracting highly educated and skilled Ghanaians in the diaspora to contribute to Ghana?s development. As is the case with many developing countries, a significant number of Ghanaians have been educated overseas, where they have stayed to become successful scientists, engineers and business people.
Attracting these Ghanaians to return and contribute to Ghana?s development will do much more for the country than the remittances these emigrants might send home. However, experience from other countries suggests that it will take more than financial incentives to attract skilled returnees. Professional recognition, the opportunity to conduct high-quality research in top facilities, and incentives to start businesses that contribute to the country?s development are equally important. Ghana can learn from countries such as the Republic of Korea, China and India, which have used a package of incentives to attract their diaspora to return to their country of origin.
4. Aligning the research and development system to socio-economic needs, setting priorities and implementation plans. Ghana?s public R&D institutes and research universities need to be strengthened so that they have the scientific capacity and equipment needed to conduct first-class, economically relevant scientific research. Much of the scientific knowledge generated by public R&D institutes is not turned into useful products and services because public R&D institutes lack the entrepreneurial culture and incentives to work closely with the private sector. Local private-sector firms do not see the advantage of investing in R&D or working with R&D institutes to improve their competitiveness and productivity.
Foreign companies operating in Ghana also make little use of Ghana?s domestic R&D institutes. Ghana will not be able to develop globally competitive agricultural and industrial enterprises without mobilizing the scientific knowledge and technological expertise in these R&D institutes. R&D must become much more focused on Ghana?s development challenges. Public research institutes should view themselves as ?technological service providers? whose mission it is to support local firms, farmers, and other economic actors for the development of their local economies.
Existing areas (centres) of excellence in the research system should be identified and nurtured. To make this possible, the Government should abandon its zero-sum game approach whereby successful income-generation on the open market is penalized by reductions in the government subvention. Good performance should be rewarded at all levels. Knowledge workers need to be well paid. They also need quality equipment and facilities.
Likewise, at universities, an effort to attract top-notch scientists and to reward them with working conditions commensurate with their impact. This would improve the ability of the universities to increase their presence, even if only selectively, in global knowledge networks. In these selected centres of excellence, it is important that rules and incentives facilitate a market for ideas, seed funding, and project execution, so that the most vibrant and relevant parts of the research infrastructure can grow while those that do not produce what is expected of them are allowed to close down.
Research funding decisions should be shifted to an independent body that manages grant applications on a competitive basis, selected on an independent, peer-review and technical-review basis.Public funding for research should be increasingly shifted away from government subvention and to competitive schemes in order to ensure that the best ideas are getting support.
Secondly, the entire system should increase its self- reflexivity. Annual reports should be taken more seriously.Setting priorities and strategic implementation plans that are not updated on a regular basis have little use. Reviews should be undertaken at regular intervals, including through external panels, in order to monitor whether the system
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GILBERT MENSAH, MSc (ETD,UCC), BA (Econs,UG), ACE
[email protected]
+233 244 02 92 32
