The Council for Technical and Vocational Education (COTVET) Project Support Unit on Monday signed a 2.5 million dollar agreement with five institutions to undertake demand driven research that would meet the needs of the private sector.

The five grantee institutions, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Council for Industrial Research, Kumasi Polytechnic, University of Ghana and Ghana Technology University College, would each receive 500,000 dollars to undertake research tailored to meet the needs of the private sector.

The award was under the Ghana Skills and Technology Development Project (GSTDP) an initiative funded by the World Bank. Speaking at the occasion, Dr Joe Oteng Adjei, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, said the awards of the grant are in line with an objective to promote research that is tailored to the needs of Ghanaians and the private sector.

He said the research was necessary to ensure the bridging of the gap between research findings in academic institutions and industry. He urged the institutions to work within the budget, time and yield quality results.

Mr. Matthew Dally, the Project Coordinator and head of the COTVET Support Unit, said the component two of the GSTDP under which the grants were being awarded was to ensure the institutional strengthening of science and technology.

He said this entailed the strengthening, the planning, the management, and the coordination of national science, technology and Innovation policies and programmes in order to make efficient use of resources and complement the national economic development plan.

Mr Dally also pointed out that, the component being implemented by COTVET in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Science and technology innovation (MESTI) had a special focus in supporting Science and Technology institutions in order for them to emphasize on research that would lead to the development of innovative technologies.

“This particular component of the GSTDP is a very good example of Inter-Ministerial collaboration between the Ministry of Education (MOE) and MESTI”, he noted.

Mr Dally urged the grantees to document their good practices and lessons learnt in order for it to be disseminated for public consumption and utilisation. He finally commended the government for the initiative and the World Bank for their financial support.