KNUST seeks partnership to bridge technological gap

The Reverend Professor Charles Ansah, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has called for increased support by corporate organizations to strengthen research activities of the university.

Ghanaian universities, he said, had been struggling with funding for research activities and this was affecting their ability to come out with more innovative ideas and technological findings to transform the society.

There was, therefore, the need to forge stronger partnership to overcome the technological gap and accelerate the pace of the nation’s socio-economic development.

The Rev Prof Ansah, who was opening a day’s exhibition mounted by the University’s College of Engineering in Kumasi, said globally, generation of creative ideas had come through research.

“We need to replicate what other nations are doing by getting our priorities right in order to make the needed impact on the global economy”, he noted.

The exhibition, which coincided with the ‘College’s Open Day’, was to showcase the engineering prowess of the students.

On display were innovative projects - renewable energy technologies, sanitation and waste management technologies, prototype drones built from locally-assembled materials, models of environmentally-friendly and cost-effective housing facilities and bridges.

The Rev Prof Ansah indicated that the purpose of engineering was to solve problems and urged the students to always think outside the box as they searched for answers to development challenges facing the society.

He underlined their resolve to work with industry to design programmes whose outcomes would transform the lives of the people.

Prof Mark Adom-Asamoah, Provost of the College, said the Day would be observed annually to inspire many to pursue engineering.

He asked that the government did everything to build confidence in Ghanaian technocrats and scientists, adding that, they needed to be empowered to find antidote to challenges in all sectors of the economy.