Ghana recognises Open Science as an essential input into the quest to be the Centre of Innovation Excellence in Africa, as envisioned by the current government.

This emerged at the LIBSENSE Open Science Symposium - Ghana, organised in Accra recently.

Speaking on behalf of the Minister for Science, Environment, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Mr Boachie said the government of Ghana has declared a Decade of Innovation (from 2022 to 2032) programme and has also established the Ghana Innovation and Research Commercialisation Centre (GIRC-Centre), all in a bid to make the country a powerhouse of innovation among its peers.

Among other things, he said, research and collaboration played a key role in achieving that vision and since both are enhanced through the principles of open science, the latter becomes very essential for that 10 year agenda to be realised.

“Open Science is a key enabler for the uptake of research output and innovation for effective commercialization, and it bears fruits when innovations and commercialization of research reach the stage of scaling. It is through the collaboration fostered by Open Science, and the exposure it provides for such  innovations and commercialization that facilitates their adoption and scaling,” Mr Boachie said.

Delivering the keynote address at the Symposium, the Deputy High Commissioner of the UK to Ghana, Keith McMahon, said, “Open science is a common priority of our countries. It should be a priority of every country.  Global, irrevocable and free access to quality research and data enables more discoveries to be made and increases the scale and speed of the impact of science.

He opined that open science must be adopted in a way to ensure there are real and substantial benefits for development. “The challenge is understanding the local landscape to identify the best opportunities for intervention where tailored solutions can work,” Mr. McMahon.

At the Symposium, several stakeholders in the open science space including social innovators, tech hubs, youth groups and early career researchers within the Ghanaian urged the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) and other relevant government agencies to expand its stakeholder engagement to capture the thoughts and aspirations of the wider stakeholder community.

 The Ghanaian Academic and Research Network (GARNET), the Ghana Academy of Arts and Science (GAAS), the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Ghana (CARLIGH), STEM youth groups, librarians, tech hubs and early career researchers  from various public and private universities participated in the event.