The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana’s foremost scientific, technological, and industrial research body, on Friday opened a three-day exhibition to showcase products and solutions developed to promote the scientific and industry-based development of the country.
The three-day fair is showcasing and marketing products and services, including different varieties of food crops, medicinal, industrial, export crops, chemicals, and simple industrial tools aimed at enhancing food security, plant-based medicine development, export processing, and job creation for the youth.
Environment, Science, and Technology Minister Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, who represented President John Dramani Mahama, highlighted that science, technology, and innovation are at the heart of Ghana’s economic transformation.
Sitting at that strategic position in national development, CSIR, according to Agyeman-Rawlings, has, through decades of research in agriculture, food processing, biotechnology, forestry, water resources, construction, renewable energy, and environmental management, built a valuable foundation of scientific knowledge and expertise to help Ghana develop a science and technology-based economy.
“We must now translate this foundation into greater economic and social impact. This is particularly important to the 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development Program which seeks to expand production, improve productivity, strengthen value chains, and create employment opportunities,” the minister added.
She added, “CSIR can help businesses improve production processes, enhance quality, and adopt appropriate technologies. It can also support the transformation of Ghana’s agricultural produce and other raw materials into competitive products for domestic and international markets.”
The three-day exhibition is themed “From Research to Market: The Role of CSIR in Driving Innovation for National Development.”
The CSIR Director-General Paul Bosu urged investors, small, medium, and large-scale industries and businesses to pay attention to the research and development taking place at the institute and invest in bringing the pilot programs to scale for the country’s development.
“We need investors because, apart from the fact that our mandate and our training are to do research and generate the technologies, we don’t have the financial muscle to go into production. So, we need to bring investors,” Bosu added.