The Ghana National Research Fund (GNRF) has hosted a delegation from South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI) at its Secretariat in Accra for high-level discussions aimed at strengthening research and innovation governance and expanding bilateral cooperation in science, technology, and innovation.
The engagement provided a platform for both institutions to exchange perspectives on innovative approaches to research governance while exploring opportunities for strategic collaboration, including the implementation of joint research initiatives, institutional partnerships, and collaborative funding mechanisms.
South Korea is globally recognised as one of the world’s leading investors in research and development, spending more than US$100 billion annually from public and private sources, equivalent to approximately five per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The sustained investment has underpinned the country’s emergence as a global leader in semiconductors, electronics, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, and digital innovation.
Leading the Ghanaian delegation, Acting Administrator of the Ghana National Research Fund, Abigail Opoku Mensah, outlined the Fund’s progress since its official launch in June 2026, highlighting its growing role in financing scientific research and innovation to support Ghana’s national development agenda.
She briefed the STEPI delegation on the Fund’s flagship programmes, including ongoing competitive grant calls being jointly implemented with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI) under the GNRF’s multilateral research co-funding framework.
Discussions centred on strengthening research and innovation governance frameworks and enhancing the institutional capacity of the Ghana National Research Fund to promote scientific excellence, evidence-based policymaking, and innovation-driven economic transformation. Both institutions exchanged best practices on building resilient national research ecosystems capable of addressing development challenges while accelerating industrialisation and sustainable growth.
A key highlight of the engagement was a live demonstration of the GNRF’s Grant Management System (GMS), which generated extensive technical discussions between the two institutions. The STEPI delegation provided recommendations to further strengthen the platform and shared insights from South Korea’s experience in designing and managing digital research administration systems, knowledge expected to inform the continued enhancement of the GNRF’s grant management architecture.
The engagement comes barely two months after President John Dramani Mahama officially launched the Ghana National Research Fund (GNRF) on June 16, 2026, with an initial government seed allocation of GH¢100 million to operationalise the Fund and strengthen Ghana’s research and innovation ecosystem.
Established under the Ghana National Research Fund Act, 2020 (Act 1056), the Fund serves as the country’s statutory mechanism for mobilising, managing, and competitively allocating resources to scientific research and innovation. Its mandate is to finance high-impact research, support doctoral and postdoctoral training, promote innovation and industry partnerships, and align research investments with Ghana’s national development priorities to accelerate the country’s transition towards a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy.
The meeting concluded with a shared commitment to deepen institutional cooperation through continued policy dialogue, joint research initiatives, capacity-building programmes, technical exchanges, and the exploration of collaborative funding opportunities aimed at advancing research excellence and innovation in both countries.
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