Science, Technology key to MDGs

GHANA can achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 only through advancement in science and technology, the Director-General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Professor Owusu Bennoah, has observed.
He said though Ghanaians had been able to develop excellent innovations through technology, “the question still remains as to how we have been able to use these innovations to the advantage of the country” to prove that Ghana had also arrived in the technological world.
The director-general made these observations when three African companies that have excelled in technological innovation shared their success stories with students, professionals and the media in Accra last Thursday with the view to starting a national discussion on technology in Ghana.
The seminar, which was jointly organised by the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence (KACE) and MPedigree Network, an advocacy group against fake drugs, showcased innovations by Omatek, MPedigree and Black Star Line (BSL) International.
Mr Ashifi Gogo, the Chief Technologist for MPedigree, discussed his company’s work to fight the sale of illegitimate drugs.
“It’s quite clear that fake drugs kill,” he said, citing two incidents in 1995 and 1999 when thousands of Africans died after their vaccinations were found to be fake.
The methods for combating that problem, which included the use of holograms or static codes, were easy to fake and thus weren’t solving the problem, he said, adding that advanced technologies such as computer chips and scanners were too expensive to be employed in poorer African countries.
He said MPedigree decided to tackle that issue using mobile phones, a device more accessible to most Africans. Under the MPedigree plan, medicines would be printed with a serial number that could be sent at no cost via SMS to determine if the medicine was genuine.
The plan, which has already completed test phases, partners with several mobile phone companies and is expected to begin around August of 2009. The programme will eventually cover other countries on the continent.
“With the support of the four main telecom operators in the country, MPedigree has implemented a uniform platform with one 4-digit access number for use by industry and trade,” he stated.
The manufacturers, who were convinced of the need for the code, he noted, were provided with special one-time codes for embossment on each product pack.
“Via the same platform, it is proposed that regulators and actors in the public health supply chain system should be electronically networked to tackle some of the root causes of counterfeiting and other trade abuses,” he said.
Mr Herman Chinery-Hesse of BSL International discussed his company’s technology, the MX Platform, which is a method that utilises mobile phones as a sales platform.
“There is no mechanism to sell products in the global market for most low-income Ghanaians,” Mr Chinery-Hesse said.
The technology allows Ghanaians to sell their products, whether it’s a drum or chemistry formula, using the Internet or their mobile phone.
“The MX application also uses a new trading model, the Nii Tattay Protocol, to co-ordinate purchase and delivery of goods in and from environments where comprehensive physical and financial services have been unavailable to the masses in a manner designed to enhance trade and enable efficient mobile phone and Internet payments for African goods, even by people without bank accounts,” he said.
Mr Chinery-Hesse said if the technology catches on, it will “transform the economy”.
Mr Kobina Jackson, the Country Manager of Omatek Computers Limited, gave the final presentation on his company’s work to manufacture and sell African-made computers.
Omatek grew from a one-man company, started in 1988. It began as a computer training organisation, but moulded to market needs and eventually started manufacturing its own computers in 2003. Its factories employ 300 people in Nigeria and 50 in Ghana.
“Demand for computers exists in our market,” he said.
Omatek has struggled to establish its brand because “people think African products are inferior,” he said.
On the contrary, he said, Omatek’s computers were built specifically to handle the heat and dust inherent to African life.
“We will sustain our efforts to ensure that a wholly African Renaissance in the field of information technology is attained in Africa,” Mr Jackson said.

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