A Senior Lecturer with the Department of General and Liberal Studies at the Wa Polytechnic Dr. Solomon Dansieh has appealed to government to consider the Wa Polytechnic as a viable location for the rollout of what he termed the ‘One-Region-One-Information Communication Technology Park’.
He said the school recognizing the need for a technological hub, made an Information Communication Technology (ICT) Park an integral part of its Strategic Plan 2006-2016. “We recognized the importance of the ICT parks and put it on our Strategic Plan 2006-2016 and now we are revising that plan. Up till now we haven’t been able to implement the idea of having a technology park here on campus.”
The Senior Lecturer admitted that although the plan did not come to fruition, they school has a work space big enough to accommodate an ICT park should government consider their request.
He said “our multi-purpose workshop is supposed to be the nucleus of the technology park. I therefore appeal to government of Ghana to consider Wa Polytechnic as the site for the regional technology park because already we have something on the ground and it will be a very good idea to bring it here so we can collaborate with industries to ensure that rural poverty is effectively quashed.”
Dr. Dansieh said the importance of such ICT parks cannot be overestimated as “it is a centre for bringing academia, society and industry together for collaboration and development.”
Dr. Dansieh was speaking at the launch of the Engineering Research Centre for Social Intervention (ERCSI) for the School of Engineering at the Wa Polytechnic at Wa in the Upper West Region.
The ERSCI is expected to transform real societal and industrial problems into research topics while coming up with innovative ways of solving them with engineering principles. It will also help ready engineering students to adequately fit into the job market right after school.
Government through the Communication Ministry as part of efforts to make Ghana a leading Technological hub is expected to establish Information Communication Technology Parks across the country. The Parks will promote entrepreneurship in order to attract private investors as well as enhance ICT and research development.
Story by Mark Smith
