The commercialization of research products under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) should take off within the next 18 months.

The ‘CSIR Plus’ company was incorporated in 2009 to run as a public-private venture, functionally independent from the mainstream corporate CSIR management.

Director-General of the Council, Dr. Abdulai Baba Salifu says a comprehensive business plan for CSIR-Plus is being worked out to ensure institutes under the Council have the impetus to be self-sufficient.

“We now have commissioned some consultants to draw exhaustive business plan that will cut across the CSIR; so that will be the blueprint for CSIR Plus to operate on as a business and all encompassing business plan that will ensure there is a centralized mobilization of funds,” he told Luv Biz in Kumasi.

CSIR is the largest scientific research organization in Ghana, operating under the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST). 

Some of 13 research institutes under the Council have over the years developed and released improved crop varieties and their production technologies.

A number of consumer foods on the Ghanaian market are from the fold of the CSIR but it hardly receives any financial rewards.

The CSIR Plus has the primary purpose of identifying and commercializing CSIR technologies and services on sound business lines.

“It will be a very viable venture,” Dr. Salifu stated.

The CSIR has been challenged to wean itself from government subventions.

According to Minister for Environment, Science and Innovation, Dr. Joe Oteng-Adjei, the Council has the potential to create enough wealth to support itself and fuel the country’s economic growth.

This, the minister said, should become a thing of the past, adding that the CSIR must be able to sell its output to generate enough funds to support its activities.