Institutional development · Research, innovation and assessment · Ghana
Lands minister asks KNUST for low-cost tools to track mining, opens FinTech studio
On a visit to KNUST in Kumasi, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources pressed the university for cheap mining-surveillance technology and opened a FinTech Venture Studio at its Innovation Centre.
Why it matters: KNUST researchers and engineering students have been asked by the minister to devise inexpensive mining-tracking tools that would let authorities respond quickly.
KNUST reported that Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, pressed the university to create low-cost tools for keeping watch on mining and countering environmental harm.
He raised the request while paying a courtesy call on the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Christian Agyare, according to the university.
The purpose of his trip was to open a FinTech Venture Studio housed in the KNUST Innovation Centre, a facility backed by the minister and intended to tie the university's research more closely to entrepreneurs and industry.
Buah said the studio showed why research produced at universities needs to become more useful to society.
Editor’s view
Scott James, Research and Innovation Editor
KNUST researchers and engineering students now have a direct ministerial request to build inexpensive mining-tracking tools, and the university's Innovation Centre has gained a FinTech Venture Studio opened on the same visit.
