CSIR unveils five-year strategic plan to accelerate socio-economic development

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has launched a five-year strategic plan with a renewed vision to accelerate Ghana's socio-economic development through innovative research and industrial technologies.

The plan, which runs from 2023 to 2027, aims to increase the council's contribution to national development by stimulating synergies between its 13 institutes and achieving its goals in real time.

According to Professor Paul Bosu, the CSIR's Director-General, the strategic plan's development went through a series of processes, including a situation analysis that led to the identification of four strategic directions with clearly defined goals and objectives and a robust monitoring and evaluation framework. He believes that if these processes are carefully pursued, they will reposition the council to have a significant impact on the economy.

The strategic plan focuses on private-sector Research and Development and technological innovation, aiming to develop and transfer industry-driven technologies relevant to the local economy every year.

It also aims to boost the CSIR's financial resource mobilisation efforts and base by generating at least 30 per cent of its annual recurrent expenditures through projects, consulting services, and other viable means by 2027.

The plan also emphasises CSIR rebranding and visibility, which aim to ensure the Council is positively visible locally and internationally through various media platforms and activities. By 2027, approximately 80 per cent of its workforce should be passionate, results-oriented, positive, and ethical enough to pursue the CSIR vision in the five-year strategic plan.

Before the launch, Dr Joseph Addo Ampofo, a member of the CSIR Strategic Plan Committee, gave an overview of how the plan's development began, saying that it was to replace the old plan, which had expired.

He explained that the committee engaged in stakeholder and customer analysis to identify various reasons for underperformance or overperformance and prioritise opportunities that would provide a competitive advantage.

According to Prof. Mrian Dorcus Quain, Deputy Director-General of the CSIR, the council plays an important role in promoting accelerated social and economic development of the country through research and innovation, technology transfer, and training in both the private and public sectors. She also highlighted the CSIR's willingness to improve the science culture of civil society in Ghana through its activities, which draw inspiration from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and African unions' long-term Agenda 2063.

The CSIR Council Chair, Prof. Robert Kingsford Adaboh, presented the strategic plan document, which sets out the council's new vision of leading science, technology, and innovation in the country for accelerated socio-economic development.

The Council aims to harness the transformative power of science, technology, and innovation to create wealth through research and the creation of innovative technologies for industrial growth.

Stakeholders believe that the plan would enhance CSIR's research capacity, develop a knowledge-based economy, and promote sustainable development in Ghana. It would also strengthen collaboration with local and international partners to achieve its objectives.

According to Professor Bosu, “the CSIR is on a mission to become the force for accelerated social and economic development in Ghana.”

Source: The Ghanaian Standard