President John Dramani Mahama has allocated GHC100 million to support the operations of the National Research Fund for 2026.
The funding is expected to strengthen research financing, innovation and human capital development in support of national development priorities.
President Mahama announced the allocation at the launch of the National Research Fund in Accra on Tuesday
He directed the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), to ensure the transparent, accountable and results-oriented deployment of the resources.
The President said the allocation reflected the Government’s commitment to building a sustainable and credible national research financing ecosystem.
He said the investment would support competitive national research grants, doctoral and postdoctoral research programmes, digital grants management systems, strategic innovation initiatives and priority research programmes aligned with national development objectives.
President Mahama assured stakeholders that the Government would ensure the full and timely implementation of the provisions of the National Research Fund Act, 2020 (Act 1056), relating to the mobilisation and release of resources for research funding.
“I request the Ministries of Finance, Education, Environment, Science and Technology to progressively operationalize the statutory financing framework established under the Fund Act to develop with scale, continuity, and predictability necessary for long-term national impact,” he said.
The President said the African Centres of Excellence Programme had demonstrated the value of structured, competitive and performance-based investment in research.
He cited the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement, the West Africa Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens and the West African Genetic Medicine Centre as institutions that had achieved excellence through sustained investment.
“These institutions have strengthened scientific capacity, developed highly skilled researchers, and produced globally recognized discoveries and enhanced Ghana’s reputation as a centre of research excellence,” he said.
President Mahama said the establishment of the Fund should support the development of solutions to national challenges, particularly in areas such as food security, climate resilience, healthcare and governance.
“Let us develop climate-smart technologies for African agriculture, let us lead research into tropical diseases, and let us harness artificial intelligence to improve governance and public service delivery.”
The President urged academic and research institutions to develop innovations that could be commercialised, exported and scaled internationally.
“Our objective is not simply to publish more papers but to solve more problems,” he said.
President Mahama called on the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission to utilise the Fund to advance applied research, accelerate innovation and translate scientific discoveries into practical solutions.
He also urged the Ministers of Finance and Education to initiate the process for Ghana’s participation in the World Bank’s ACE Innovate initiative.
He said participation in the programme should be integrated with the National Research Fund to strengthen national coordination, align investments with strategic priorities and improve accountability for results.
Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Education, said the Fund would play a critical role in enhancing productivity and supporting industrialisation.
He urged academia to lead efforts to provide solutions to Ghana’s development challenges and support the implementation of the Government’s 24-hour economy policy.
Mr Iddrisu expressed optimism that the Fund would help address structural gaps in research financing and contribute to stability within tertiary education institutions.
