Ghana’s government has introduced legislation to bridge the persistent gap between academic research and commercial viability, targeting technology-driven economic transformation through its newly proposed Innovation and Start-Up Bill.
Communications Minister Samuel Nartey George announced the policy framework at the Africa Research and Innovation Commercialisation Summit (ARICS) 2025, positioning it as a cornerstone of Ghana’s bid to become a regional hub for scalable tech solutions.
The bill, slated for parliamentary review later this year, will establish the Ghana Innovation and Start-Up Agency to coordinate funding, mentorship, and regulatory support for entrepreneurs. “Our classrooms, farms, and workshops overflow with ingenuity, but too often, ideas stall at the prototype stage,” George told delegates. “This framework ensures innovations progress from labs to markets, creating jobs and retaining intellectual capital within Africa.”
Central to the strategy is the 24-Hour Economy Policy, designed to optimize infrastructure usage through round-the-clock manufacturing and digital service operations. Complementary initiatives include a National Apprenticeship Programme offering free technical training and seed funding, alongside plans to train one million citizens in coding, blockchain, and AI by 2030 through regional tech hubs.
A dedicated Innovation and Start-Up Fund will prioritize ventures led by women and youth, with 40% of allocations reserved for climate-tech and agritech projects. The minister cited ongoing upgrades to ICT parks in Accra and Kumasi as evidence of commitment to building “physical ecosystems where startups scale beside established industries.”
Heritors Labs CEO Derrydean Dadzie underscored the bill’s timeliness during a keynote address, noting Africa’s research and development spending lags at 0.5% of GDP—less than a quarter of the global average. “We export raw minerals and import finished medicines; ship out unprocessed crops and buy back packaged foods,” he said. “Retaining value starts with converting our own research into market-ready products.”
Dadzie shared insights from his firm’s upcoming UK-Africa Innovation Trust Corridor, a platform to ease cross-border collaboration and financing for African startups. His critique of systemic gaps drew on personal experience navigating Ghana’s healthcare system during his daughter’s leukemia treatment, stressing that “solutions exist within our universities and labs—they simply need pathways to implementation.”
While Ghana’s tech startups raised $35 million in 2024—a 20% year-on-year increase—analysts note persistent hurdles. Bureaucratic delays in business registration, limited late-stage funding, and intellectual property disputes remain concerns. The proposed agency aims to address these through streamlined permitting and legal support services.
Summit participants, including representatives from the UK Foreign Office and Africa’s RISA Fund, emphasized regulatory harmonization across the continent to ease scaling. Current trade barriers see Ghanaian startups spend up to 18% of revenues on cross-border compliance, versus 6% for European counterparts.
As the bill advances, observers highlight Ghana’s test case potential. “Get this right, and we reset the narrative from brain drain to brain gain,” said Accra-based venture capitalist. “But execution demands sustained political will—not just flagship announcements.” With ARICS 2025 concluding with 17 multinational partnerships announced, stakeholders now await tangible progress toward translating policy ambition into economic returns.
