Kumasi, March 10, GNA - A five-day Trade and Technology Fair structured to provide opportunity for students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), entrepreneurs and artists to showcase their works to corporate society has opened in Kumasi. It is being held under the auspices of the United Nations Development Programme and the KNUST.

Professor Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, Vice-Chancellor of the University, who performed the opening ceremony, said there was the need for a more aggressive push to bridge the gap between the academia and industry to ensure that research findings and creative works by students are fully utilised to aid economic growth. He said given the constant innovations, product improvement and competition, associated with today's world, everything should be done to enhance commercialization of the works of the university. Professor Adarkwa said KNUST has made entrepreneurship a compulsory subject in all the programmes offered by the university as part of efforts to unearth students' creativity.

He said this had become necessary to help students to set up their own businesses after completion of their courses. Mr Joseph Onyinah, Ashanti Regional Director of Education, asked parents and school authorities to encourage the youth to pursue courses in science and technology to facilitate national development.