As part of ongoing consultations with units under the Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor, staff of the Innovation Unit at the Research and Innovation Directorate (RID) held a meeting with Prof. Samuel Codjoe to outline strategies to enhance innovation in research and support entrepreneurship training programmes.
The Innovation Unit is responsible for promoting a culture of innovation among researchers and empowering students and has been instrumental in driving partnerships with industry to support student-led enterprises, creating startups and driving commercialization. Several other innovative projects have been rolled since 2022, including the Student Venture Support Programme (SVSP) in partnership with the British Council, Imperial College, London, Impact Hub and others. The SVSP initiative has been expanded through four phases to include students from three leading Universities in the Country. In the area of creative arts, the ARTIFY (“Amplifying Art as a Business”) programme in collaboration with the Nubuke Foundation has trained young artists enabling them to thrive in the creative arts industry.
Having presented his action plan for enhancing research, Prof. Codjoe tasked the Innovation Unit to identify areas where enhanced resources will help facilitate the successful implementation of the plan. As a central feature of the University’s strategic plan is to achieve impactful research, Prof. Codjoe emphasized the need for innovation initiatives throughout the University to collaborate for greater outcomes and impact to be consolidated under the UG ‘brand’. He advised that the Innovation Unit should engage with other innovation hubs and incubators embedded with other units at UG to consolidate activities, enhancing visibility for maximum benefit to the University as a whole. He further recommended the establishment of a Research Chair related to innovation and identify industry players to occupy and support such an initiative.
The Innovation Unit led by Mrs Mammie Hutchful Nortey outlined several programmes that had been rolled out and were impacting positively in the innovation space at UG. She highlighted the recent launch of the Innovation Enclave and MakerSpace spearheaded by their Unit in collaboration with other partners and funded by the Kosmos Innovation Center (KI). She acknowledged the additional innovation hubs and initiatives, having worked with the Business School on some projects, they continue to engage with personnel at the UGBS Innovation Hub. She stated that her team planned to build capacity to support other units springing up around the Legon Campus.
On the issue of Intellectual Property (IP) rights Prof. Codjoe stated that the University had to enhance efforts towards achieving success with securing IP and patents which would bring greater recognition and impact and in turn generate revenue for the University. He underscored the need to develop a structured programme for faculty to encourage the channelling of research towards novelty and deriving patents and IP.
Mrs Hutchful stated that the Innovation Enclave has aligned its offerings to applicable curricula such as engineering, making it possible for students to put their inventions to the test in the Makerspace, build prototypes and demonstrate applicability and viability of an invention. She highlighted the need for new partnerships, and fresh injection of funding to enable the unit venture into other viable innovation activities.
Following an exchange of ideas, the meeting ended with the presentation of an engraved portrait of Prof. Codjoe created at the Innovation Enclave in a practical demonstration of the creative works of the Makerspace.
Prof. Codjoe assured staff that he would continue to dialogue and support them to achieve the strategic goals of the University.