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TMD Centre and CSIR-STEPRI Hold Workshop in Accra, Ghana

The Technology and Management for Development (TMD) Centre in collaboration with the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (CSIR-STEPRI) organised a workshop to present the Diffusion of Innovation in Low Income Countries (DILIC) Project in Accra, Ghana

The workshop was held on 5 March and was attended by more than 40 Ghanaian academics, researchers, policymakers and entrepreneurs.

The workshop sought to introduce the research being conducted by Prof Xiaolan Fu and Dr Giacomo Zanello on the DILIC Project as well as the joint, collaborative work being conducted between the DILIC project team and CSIR-STEPRI. This collaboration demonstrates the practical research benefits, knowledge exchange activities, and the impact that results from establishing connections between different research institutions.

The workshop included presentations by Prof Xiaolan Fu, University of Oxford, Dr George Essegbey, Director of CSIR-STEPRI, and Dr Giacomo Zanello, University of Oxford.

Prof Xiaolan Fu introduced innovation and economic transformation in its historical context, and pointed out the steps followed by middle-income countries on innovation and catch-up. After contextualising innovation in the developed and developing world, Prof Fu introduced the objectives, research activities and methodology of the DILIC project.

Dr George Essegbey presented Ghana’s national innovation system and innovation performance, looked at the space for innovation, and discussed how innovation performance can benefit the current economic status of Ghana.

Finally, Dr Giacomo Zanello reported the findings from a systematic literature review on the role of innovation as growth’s engine for developing countries. He first reported evidence on the barriers to innovation creation and diffusion in low-income countries, followed by the determinants of knowledge diffusion within low-income countries. The last part of the talk addressed the effects of external knowledge diffusion to low-income countries.

The presentations were followed by a general discussion and Q&A session moderated by Dr Godfred Frempong, Deputy Director of STREPRI, during which several of the participants from the public, private and academic sectors contributed in an engaged discussion.