President John Dramani Mahama has unveiled the Ghana National Research Fund (GNRF), calling it a vital step to close persistent funding gaps in research and boost Ghana’s push for industrialisation and economic transformation.
Addressing the launch on Tuesday, June 16, the President said the move was part of government’s wider “resetting agenda” and its drive for faster industrial growth.
He noted that the Fund aims to deliver stable and predictable support for research, adding that building homegrown knowledge systems is crucial for national advancement.
According to him, the plan builds on a vision dating back to Ghana’s independence, and shows the lasting view that science, technology, and research sit at the heart of national self-reliance.
“Today, Ghana affirms that research can no longer be treated as a peripheral activity. It must become one of the engines that drive our economic growth, our social progress and our national competitiveness,” he said.
President Dramani Mahama linked the thinking behind the Fund to founding leader Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, stating that he saw early on how science, technology and research fuel economic transformation.
He said Nkrumah knew industrialisation needed more than resource extraction, stressing that Ghana had to create its own technologies and answers to local problems.
The President also recognised the role of Professor John Evans Atta-Mills who he said firmly pushed for science, technology, innovation, and research as a key pillar of national development.
He pointed out that while the concept had existed for years, what was lacking was a sustainable funding structure, now provided under Act 1056 of 2020, crediting former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for enabling its passage and signing the law.
The President noted that major worldwide gains in medicine, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, renewable energy and manufacturing have all come from consistent research investment.
He warned that Ghana cannot reach industrial transformation while underfunding knowledge creation, noting that local researchers have worked under tight financial limits despite delivering world-class work.
According to the President, the Ghana National Research Fund will tackle these structural issues and back national priorities, including the 24-Hour Economy initiative and the Accelerated Export Development Programme.
