Mahama urges Ghanaian businesses to tap CSIR innovations

President John Dramani Mahama has urged Ghanaian businesses to look to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for homegrown solutions rather than relying excessively on technologies and expertise from abroad.

He said Ghana's economic transformation would depend largely on the country's ability to turn research and scientific innovations into commercially viable products and services.

The President made the call in a statement delivered on his behalf by the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, at the opening of the CSIR Innovation Fair 2026 in Accra yesterday.

He noted that many promising innovations developed in Ghana remained at the research or prototype stage due to inadequate financing, limited testing opportunities, weak connections with industry and insufficient support for technology transfer.

“Too many promising innovations risk remaining at the prototype or research stage because of limited financing, inadequate testing, weak industry linkages or insufficient support for technology transfer,” he said.

President Mahama therefore tasked the CSIR to develop viable business cases for its innovations while encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), startups, banks and development partners to invest in them.

He said the success of the fair should not be measured by the number of visitors or exhibits but by the partnerships, investments and commercial opportunities that emerge from it.

“Let this fair be more than an exhibition. Measure its success not by attendance or number of exhibits, but by partnerships established, technologies adopted, investments attracted, enterprises strengthened, jobs created and lives improved. The true success will be determined by what happens after the exhibition stands are dismantled,” he said.

Science at the heart of economic transformation

President Mahama said the theme of the fair, “From Research to Market”, reflected a critical component of Ghana's economic strategy.

He said science, technology and innovation must become central to efforts to transform the economy and enable the country to develop and produce more of its own technologies.

“Science, technology and innovation must be at the heart of Ghana's economic transformation. A country that does not merely consume technologies developed elsewhere but increasingly creates its own,” he said.

He noted that the CSIR had an important role to play in the government's 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development Programme, particularly because increased production, stronger value chains and job creation depended on scientific research and innovation.

President Mahama also cited CSIR's work on a wheat variety with potential for cultivation in Ghana, alongside research in climate-smart agriculture, biotechnology, food processing, construction and renewable energy, as areas that could support the Feed Ghana Programme.

He said agricultural development required more than the provision of inputs, stressing the need for improved crop varieties, reliable soil information, climate-resilient technologies and better post-harvest systems.

“Farmers need more than inputs. They need improved crop variety, reliable soil information, climate-resilient technology and better post-harvest handling,” President Mahama said.

CSIR adopts new approach

The Director-General of the CSIR, Prof. Paul Pinnock Bosu, said the innovation fair represented a significant shift in the institution's approach to research commercialisation.

He said the CSIR was prepared to take its innovations directly to businesses and communities rather than waiting for them to seek out the institution.

“If businesses will not come to CSIR, CSIR will go to the businesses. If Ghana will not come to CSIR, CSIR will go to Ghana,” he said.

Prof. Bosu said the fair's theme reflected the national importance of ensuring that scientific research translates into practical solutions that improve people's daily lives.

He referenced Dr Kwame Nkrumah's 1963 vision that “it is within the possibility of science and technology to make even the Sahara bloom,” challenging stakeholders to assess how far Ghana had progressed towards that vision.

He said the future of the CSIR should be determined not only by the quality of its research but also by how relevant and useful that research was to national development.

Prof. Bosu consequently called for broader support from Ghanaians to enable the CSIR to strengthen the link between research, innovation and economic transformation.