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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) organized a program that hosted a ten member team from Nigeria at the International Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) Training Facility (IMTF) in Accra, Ghana.

The Centre Manager of the Nuclear Reactors Research Centre (NRRC) under the National Nuclear Research Institute (NNRI), GAEC, Dr. Henry Cecil Odoi said the objective of the program was to train member states who operate MNSRs outside China to convert their Research Reactor fuels from Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) to Low Enriched Uranium (LEU).

According to him, efforts were initiated in 2006 to convert the Chinese-designed MNSR in Ghana from HEU to LEU fuel. ‘The Ghana Research Reactor -1 is the first of five such MNSR reactors outside of China to have been converted and the HEU core returned to China”.

He added that through a collaborative work between Ghana, USA, China and the IAEA, the HEU core was removed from the reactor in August 2016 and a new LEU core installed.

‘The Nigerian’s MNSR is the next to undergo conversion of the core and Ghana is hosting them for series of training sessions to help equip them with the requisite skills to carry out the activity’, he explained.

The head of the Nigerian team, Dr. Hamisu Abukari Admamu in an interview said, their research reactor which was commissioned in February, 2004 will be converted from HEU to LEU. According to him the training sessions will help them prepare for the conversion process.

He commended the efforts of the supervisors and facilitators for giving out their best to his team.

A specialist at the International Relations Department of the SOSNY R&D Company, Russia, Ms. Irina Shatalina, who together with her team offered technical training to the Nigerian personnel expressed satisfaction at the rate of progress made by the Nigerians so far.

She intimated that she was confident the Nigerians would be able to convert the core within the stipulated period at the end of all the training sessions without assistance. She also expressed gratitude to GAEC for the immense support given her and her team during the training sessions.

By: Thykingdom Kudesey / Office of Corporate and Public Affairs (OCPA) – GAEC

Some members of the Ghana Institute of Engineers, Accra, have called on the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) to take advantage of the growing opportunities in the Oil and Gas Sector to develop human capacity for local content jobs.

The concerned engineers made the call at a recent lecture delivered by Scientists of the National Nuclear Research Institute (NNRI), GAEC, on Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) technologies and applications.

NDT is a technique that ensures that the structural integrity of systems are maintained even after work is done on them. It ensures that no damage is done to parts being worked on. Thistechnology requires the use of radiation among others, to detect cracks, corrosion and leakages in pipes and tanks.

The growing need for NDT technology and services in the offshore Oil and Gas sector has necessitated local engineers to demand for the building of human capacity in the area of NDT technologies to offer offshore NDT services.

Speaking in an interview, Fredric Emmanuel Awuku Bekoe, an Engineer and a member of the Ghana Institute of Engineers disclosed that he was impressed with the activities carried out at GAEC.

He acknowledged that GAEC has proven that it has competent human resource in the field of NDT. However, he lamented that Ghana has not secured enough jobs that use NDT within the offshore Oil and Gas sector.

“Petty Offshore jobs are still awarded to foreign companies because the locals do not have the resources to carry out such jobs. But from the lessons learnt I could tell that GAEC is capable of doing beyond what they are doing currently if government can support”, he said.

He added that it is about time GAEC moved from the onshore services to secure other offshore jobs. Mr. Bekoe further added that most of the generated revenue will remain in Ghana if Government can equip GAEC to extend services beyond its reach.

By: Thykingdom Kudesey / Office of Corporate and Public Affairs (OCPA) – GAEC

“Ghana’s developmental dreams will be short-lived without a constant supply of electricity to power industries”. Dr. Mensah made this statement on a working visit to the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), to ascertain the effective use of Nuclear Technology in national development.

Dr. Mensah is a Ghanaian-American chemical engineer who works in fiber optics and nanotechnology. He has to his credit, fourteen (14) patents, of which seven (7) were awarded within a period of six years. He was inducted into the US National Academy of Inventors in 2015.

In an interview during his tour, he spoke passionately about the rich mineral and human resource potentials that Ghana can tap into, for its development without relying on foreign aid. He stressed that Ghana’s industrialization requires the building of factories with uninterrupted power supply.

He reiterated the need for nuclear power supply in Ghana as a sustainable option to meet Ghana’s energy needs especially for industry.

He mentioned that the Silicon Valley project for Ghana was launched in January 2017 aspart of Ghana’s efforts to bridge the technology gap in the country. He added that it will work hand in hand with GAEC to create businesses (in accelerators and incubators) that can compete with tech-companies around the world. According to him, “The Silicon Valley of Ghana will, move Ghana into the 21^stCentury’s technological advancement and also specifically support the high Speed Bullet Train that is being developed in Ghana”. He added that there is an initiative to also look at generating electricity from waste.

Speaking on Agriculture and food preservation in Ghana, Dr. Mensah noted that his outfit would work with experts from GAEC, employing GAEC’s Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF) to control post-harvest losses by irradiating crops for longer shelf lives. Thus, such crops could be exported to other countries to generate revenue.

He used the opportunity to tour some laboratories and facilities at GAEC.

By: Thykingdom Kudesey / Office of Corporate and Public Affairs (OCPA) – GAEC

The Deputy Minister of Environment Science and Technology and innovation Mrs. Patricia Appiagye, has charged the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission to utilize its available lands to prevent encroachment.

The deputy Minister who addressed the leadership of the Commission during her one-day working visit lamented that lands that are yet to be developed by the Commission are being taken over by encroachers.

According to her, the graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences (SNAS) will soon require expansion, hence will need a vast land for such development. She added that SNAS offering postgraduate programmes in Nuclear Science is a big project and must not be underestimated.

She blamed the poor visibility of GAEC activities on its lands as one of the leading causes of encroachment. She advised that the Commission expands its Institute to fill up the remaining properties to limit or eliminate these issues of encroachment.

Mrs. Appiagyei further pledged government’s commitment to help GAEC protect the remaining lands against encroachment.

The Director General of GAEC, Prof. Benjamin Nyarko was thankful to the Deputy Minister for her support to help find a lasting solution to the issues of encroachment on GAEC Properties. According to him, the situation becomes less challenging when a state owned institution like GAEC gets the full support of government.

He called on government to help the Commission ensure that the needed expansion and developmental projects come into full force.

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Application form

ABSTRACT

 

TOPIC: THE GENE TECHNOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT IN GHANA: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES.

SPEAKER: PROF. K. E. DANSO (DIRECTOR – BNARI).

 

The adoption of the Gene technology in crop improvement programme has resulted in tremendous crop yield and huge economic returns in many countries. The technology thus ensures food security, increases nutritional quality as well as sustainable environmental management in the midst of changing climate and limited land availability. Although the basis of the technology does not far deviate from Mendellian genetics and hence other known breeding techniques, critics have raised concerns on the adoption of the technology especially in the developing countries. There are arguments that food produced through the gene technology may pose health hazards, introduce super weeds and erode subsistence farmers of their traditional seeds. This presentation will discuss the genetic basis of the technology and the role of Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute (BNARI) in the development of the technology in Ghana. The public concerns on the gene technology and the regulatory role of biosafety to ensure that food produced via the technology is safe for both human health and the environment.

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MONITORING AND EVALUATION FOR PROJECT OUTCOME AND INDICATOR WITH RISK ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROJECT AND METIGATING MEASURES FOR THE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PROJECT

1.0. BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT

It is widely recognized that the performance of a national economy in terms of innovation and productivity is not only the result of its basic research capabilities and inventions but also strongly influenced by its ability to exploit these inventions commercially and develop them into products.

The role of academic and research institutions have witnessed continuous change from the production of academic knowledge to ‘capitalization’ of the knowledge with the objective of improving national economic development as well as the institutions own finances. In Ghana, there has been a lot of concern about the gap between scientific achievement and the commercialization of such achievements for the benefit of industry to stimulate national economic transformation[1] Indeed, the role of universities and research institutions in fostering technology transfer and economic growth is now considered a key element of national economic development policies. The Ghana Industrial Policy for instance observed: “There is a weak science, technology and innovation system, with limited interactions between key agents in the system such as universities, research and technology transfer institutions, and industry”

In response, the Government of Ghana has initiated a number of interventions geared towards realizing the objectives set out in the Ghana Industrial Policy. One such notable initiative is the establishment of the fund under the Ghana skills and technology development project where research institutions could team up with industry to transfer knowledge and technology for economic development. The structure of the university and research institutions as the basic platform makes the relationship with the industry easy to develop as there are many programs that can be created. Against this background, GAEC has a number of technological innovations of commercial value which it intends leveraging for the growth of the Ghanaian private sector.

2.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

To address the needs of the private sector and contribute strongly to the growth of the Ghanaian economy, GAEC launched a project “making GAEC more responsive to the demands/needs of Ghana private sector” or simply put “Technology Transfer and Marketing Centre Project” commenced in January 2014 to run for two year duration. The project is being supported by the World Bank through the Ministry of Science and Environment and COTVET.

The main goal of the project is to enhance the transfer of science and technology to the Ghanaian private sector with three key expected outcomes:

• Establishment of private-sector oriented staff and institutional incentive schemes at GAEC that encourage the providers to respond effectively to technology demand from the private sector
• Development of Additional and Effective engagements between the private sector and GAEC
• Building the capacity of the GAEC to develop, adapt and diffuse technologies to the private sectors

The TTMC project adopts the market-driven approach to science and technology research through the establishment of modern technology commercialization and marketing centre (TCMC) that would serve as an interface between the various institutes and the private sector.

The Centre would be well resourced with requisite logistics and qualified personnel; incentives and performance targets. The project would identify and train technology commercialization (TC) focal persons in each institute to coordinate its commercialization activities. The TCMC would facilitate linkages with industry under structured and value for money framework. The technology commercialization centre would develop a technology transfer process guidelines for GAEC. The Centre would also be responsible to conducting analysis of the potential commercial market for each innovation, conduct literature and patent searches to help assess patentability, and evaluate possible commercialization strategies that provide a suitable financial return to GAEC. It would also protect the intellectual property surrounding inventions; define the best commercialization strategy and look for the potential commercial partners to develop the technology into a successful product.

To orient scientists to the new approach to innovation and research at GAEC, the project would provides short training courses in commercialization and marketing to TC focal persons and Directors of Institutes. Topics to be covered include marketing for science and technology ventures; intellectual property and legal issues in commercialization, commercialization of science and technology and entrepreneurship for science and technology ventures. The training would be delivered at SNAS with experts sourced from reputable institutions such as GIMPA or abroad. The project would also collaborate with SNAS to institutionalize this training for all its post graduate students.

To ensure a motivated workforce, the project would review the reward and promotion system at GAEC to go beyond scientific publications to include the provision of science-based solutions to problems facing the private sector. Thus scientists and staff of GAEC would not only be assessed (for promotion) based on the number of publication made but also, the number of technology solutions provided to industry. Further, incentive schemes would be put in place (under this project) to fund the commercialization transfer cost as well as give bonuses to scientists and commercialization personnel who successfully transfer technology to the private sector. The Centre would also support scientists and private sector companies to source for funding from sources such as SDF, Out grower and Value Chain Fund, EDAIF and Venture Capital Fund to develop the innovation. The GAEC mango farmers’ collaboration provides an example.

To get scientists to be abreast with the pressing technological problems facing the private sector, the project would organize bi-annual workshops which would bring scientists and key industrial actors together. GAEC website would be upgraded and regularly updated to include the various innovations/technology churn out by the institutes. Information and communication materials would also be developed and distributed to potential private sector companies. A number of public relation engagements would be carried out to further promote the various innovations at GAEC both in the print and electronic media. The project

The project thus represents a point of departure in terms of how scientific researchers are conducted at GAEC and the beginning of enduring relationship between GAEC and the private sector in Ghana.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

1. To presented here are the expected end of project situation; what resources, infrastructure, capacity, processes etc. are in place to ensure continuity and how and why the outcome of this project will be Monitored and Evaluated.

SCOPE OF WORK

Specifically the Consultant is expected to undertake the following:

1. Make consultation with the Scientist who has benefited from the grants from the Center, Monitor its progress and Evaluate with its achievements to understand and recommend an efficient and effective evaluation plan
2. Develop technology, transfer and commercialization evaluation guidelines for the grants under implementation that clearly outlines the 0utcome from idea conception to market.

METHODOLOGY

The consultant is to come up with sound methodology including the use of participatory approaches in carrying out this assignment. The consultant should seek the views and opinion of GAEC management and staff to fully understand the context in coming up with the Evaluation and Monitoring plan.

DELIVERABLE

1. A work plan for delivering on the Terms of reference with brief methodology
2. Final report within 3 weeks of commencement of assignment.

1. RESPONSIBILITIES

GAEC:

1. To provide any organizational related information that the consultant may need to carry out assignment expeditiously
2. To pay the consultants agreed fees
3. Create platforms for briefing of management /staff on the draft report
4. Support the Consultant interview appropriate individuals.

2. Contact persons

The consultant shall report to:

Ms. Sheila Frimpong

Project Coordinator

TTMC

f_shillahumble @yahoo.com

Tel:0246171271

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