The Vice-Chancellor of Ho Technical University (HTU), Prof. Ben Q. Honyenuga, has called for more investment and support for women in engineering to enable them to develop innovative solutions to Ghana’s pressing social, economic and environmental challenges.

He said women must be placed at the centre of efforts to build a sustainable future, stressing that their participation in engineering was critical to Ghana’s capacity to innovate and address complex development challenges.

Prof. Honyenuga made the call in his keynote address at the 5th edition of the Women in Engineering (WinE) Affair 2026, held at the G M Afeti Auditorium of HTU in October 2026.

Held under the theme, “Engineering a Sustainable Future: Women Leading the Way”, the event brought together 19 institutions offering engineering programmes across the nation, marking the first time participation in the WinE Affair reached 19 institutions.

The programme was organised by WinE-Ghana and hosted by WinE-HTU to promote female participation in engineering, innovation and entrepreneurship and was graced by the President-elect and President of the Ghana Institution of Engineering (GhIE), Ing Sophia Tijani and Ing. Rev Anan, alongside engineers, university authorities, lecturers and other stakeholders.

Prof Honyenuga said Ghana’s challenges in areas including climate change, energy, food security, infrastructure and public health required innovative and sustainable solutions.

He urged stakeholders to encourage more girls to pursue engineering and technology, provide mentorship and sponsorship for young women, and create supportive environments that would enable them to participate and advance in the profession.

He also said HTU is committed to supporting women in engineering through practical training, research, innovation and professional networking. As part of the rollout of the Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Engineering, he announced that the university would provide scholarship opportunities for young girls.

Adding her voice to the call, the Head of the Civil Engineering Department at HTU, Ing. Dr Patricia Asantewaa-Tannor, appealed to individuals, institutions and corporate organisations, particularly telecommunications companies, to increase sponsorship for the WinE Affair.

She said students have brilliant ideas but often lack the financial resources and data needed to refine and scale their projects, and urged organisations to support their work.

One of the HTU contestants, Sesinam Lorlortor Kumako, said her team developed an artificial intelligence-powered application called Nefiskan GH to predict a person’s risk of developing chronic kidney disease at an early stage.

She said the team collected hospital data and trained mathematical algorithms to identify patterns in full blood count results, enabling the application to assess the risk of chronic kidney disease using full blood count data.

Although the HTU team placed 7th out of 19 participating institutions, Kumako said the experience has encouraged the team to improve the project and perform better in subsequent competitions.

Senior Medical Technician at the Biomedical Engineering Department, Bismark Akwatey, said the department trains students to use engineering to develop solutions to healthcare challenges, including the design, maintenance and repair of medical equipment.