Impact Investing Ghana (IIGh) has received GBP 109,536 from the Research and Innovation Systems for Africa (RISA) fund to foster research-industry connections in Ghana.
The project aims to ‘strengthen synergies between research and industry to unlock pathways to financing innovation that will improve integration and coordination, as well as support demand for the financing by supporting Enterprise Support Organisations (ESOs).

Strengthening the connections between research and industry is essential for innovation, commercialisation, and dissemination of research results. While Ghana has research capacity in universities, research institutions and firms, there is little interaction between researchers and industry. This leads to missed opportunities for scaling up innovation or linking innovations to research. The government’s Science, Technology and Innovation as well as Intellectual Property policies commit to strengthening these areas, which unfortunately still have significant gaps.
Ghana’s IIGh Chief Executive Officer, Amma Lartey, says: “ regulatory challenges, lack of innovative financing vehicles and participation by institutional investors like pension funds needs to be addressed if impact investing is to grow within the region.”

She noted that the initiative was urgent and relevant, especially in sustaining efforts that drive industry-research collaboration for poverty reduction, job creation, inclusive growth and reducing the $5billion financing gap for innovation ventures.

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