Education

AITI-KACE and KNUST intensify research collaboration

• By Ebenezer Albidar Narh
• June 04, 2018
• 33

The Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (AITI-KACE) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) have intensified their collaboration in the areas of research, innovation and development.

At a brief meeting between leaders of the two institutions, the Director General of AITI-KACE Mr Kwasi Adu-Gyan and the Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Prof Kwasi Obiri-Danso acknowledged the need for a stronger collaboration between the two institutions.

The two leaders admitted that the collaboration will promote research and development in the Information Technology sector, hence leading to the creation of products and services that will accelerate socio-economic development of the country.

Mr Kwasi Adu-Gyan said the AITI-KACE's decision to engage officially with the university, stemmed from their mandate to bridge the gap between the academia and industry.

He said it is also the mandate of the centre to establish partnerships and cooperate with other research organizations and institutions of higher learning in joint research, innovation and training programmes as well as collaborate with partners from all sectors to catalyze the growth of ICT sector in Ghana.

He noted that there is the need for availability of a High Performance Computing (HPC) which will help deliver reliable and sustainable computing resources to meet the scientific and technological research demands of the country.

Mr Kwasi Adu-Gyan suggested a creation of cluster of HPCs and building of community to groom young researchers and HPC users with the aim of building capacity and promote the use of HPC for scientific researches.

He further stated that since AITI-KACE is closer to industry, the collaboration is prudent because out of it students can have their first hand industrial experiences, thereby creating a pool of personnel with expertise ready for the industry.

“Since KNUST will select the best students for AITI-KACE to support research, innovation and development projects, it will create a competitive environment for students to be encouraged to give out their best knowing there are opportunities available,” he explained.

Mr Adu-Gyan also reiterated on how best the two institutions can identify possible areas where they can make use of the HPC.

“Aside the HPC, AITI-KACE is in the process of developing State-of-the-Art Software Development facility, Embedded System, VLSI and Cloud Technology facilities to come out with relevant software products, which all is to see Ghana being an innovation hub of the sub-region,” he said.

Prof Obiri-Danso, for his part, said the collaboration between would reignite the expectations of identifying problems and come out with technological solutions in the transformation process of Ghana.

He pledged the university's willingness to support the initiative, noting that collaboration will for a long time be a backbone in the future development of Ghana in terms of research, innovation and development.

The Provost of the College of Engineering, Professor Mark Adom-Asamoah noted that the collaboration was not only on the agenda of the College of Engineering, but also relevant to the university's core mandate as a Science, Technology and Engineering based institution to propel national development.

Prof Adom-Asamoah further indicated that the collaboration will enhance the visibility and efficiency in conducting and training Students in research and development, adding it would enable Students and lecturers share knowledge and access facilities available to them, such as the HPC.

Source: Graphic.com.gh