Ghana targets strategic position as Africa’s space technology hub

Ghana is seeking to position itself as a strategic hub for space science, earth observation, satellite data, research and innovation in Africa, as the government moves to harness space technologies to support national development.

The Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, said Ghana's geographical location and political stability provide opportunities that the country must deliberately leverage as it develops its space science and technology agenda.

Speaking at an engagement on Ghana's Space Science and Technology Agenda, she said the country's space programme must go beyond satellite development and focus on applying space and geospatial technologies to practical development challenges.

She identified flooding, environmental degradation, climate adaptation, coastal management and urban planning as some of the areas where satellite and geospatial technologies could provide critical support.

Dr Agyeman-Rawlings said satellite imagery, drones, ground observation, geospatial systems and artificial intelligence would also be important in monitoring environmental changes, supporting enforcement and measuring the effectiveness of interventions, particularly in the fight against illegal mining and the degradation of water bodies.

“Our response to environmental degradation must increasingly be supported by credible, timely and spatially disaggregated information,” she said.

The Minister also stressed the need to build Ghana's human capital to support the country's ambitions in the space sector, saying the country's greatest space asset would be the people capable of designing, building and operating satellites, analysing data and developing businesses around space technologies.

She said government would promote stronger collaboration among universities, research institutions, industry, government agencies and international partners while encouraging more young people to pursue careers in aerospace, satellite engineering, astrophysics, remote sensing, geospatial science, artificial intelligence, robotics, data science and space entrepreneurship.

Dr Agyeman-Rawlings further called for greater private-sector participation, arguing that Ghana's space sector could not depend solely on government.

She identified opportunities for Ghanaian companies to develop satellite and geospatial applications for sectors including agriculture, insurance, banking and finance, telecommunications, logistics, mining, maritime services, disaster management, urban planning and climate services.

“Our objective should therefore be to move beyond a government-led space programme towards a national space ecosystem,” she said.

Under the proposed ecosystem, government would provide the policy, regulatory and institutional framework, academia would generate knowledge, research institutions would develop technologies, the private sector would commercialise innovations, development partners would provide technical and financial support, and young innovators would contribute new ideas.

— CitiNewsRoom