OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES AND INNOVATION (ORSI)
In This Edition
Vol.1
ABOUT ORSI
ABOUT TRIC
PROJECT REVIEW WORKSHOP
SOLAR PROJECT
TECHNOLOGY FAIR 2015
COTVET-PSU/MESTI PRODUCTIVITY TRACKING WORKSHOP
PRODUCTIVITY TRACKING WORKSHOP- KUMASI
JUNE EDITION
Office of Research Services and Innovation (ORSI)
In January 2014 the existing Research office of GTUC was restructured to become Office of Research Services and Innovation (ORSI).
The mission of the ORSI is to be the centre of excellence in cutting-edge research and innovative technology that will promote world class research into marketable technology which will enable stakeholders to realize the overall impact of science and technology.
The vision of the Office is to be the leading centre of research and innovative technologies within Ghana and the sub-region.
Core Responsibilities of ORSI
The office administers support for research and scholarly /creative work across the entire university community. This support includes
Assisting faculty and staff to identify and obtain external funds for research training and scholarly activity
Assisting faculty and staff in proposal and pre award process
Helps faculty with intellectual property and technology transfer matters
Assuring that all research applications awards and activities complies to university college policy
Managing grants and contracts
Assuring university compliance with funder's research regulations.
Projects under ORSI: Technology Research Project Solar Project
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Technology Research and Innovation Centre (TRIC)
TRIC is a centre established by Ghana Technology University College in January 2014 following a grant received from Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) to undertake market-driven research to support students, the general public and the industry to translate local ideas into products that would satisfy market demands
TRIC’s Objectives
To support faculty/industry research and development
Provide support for product development
Convert research products into industrial quality prototypes
Provide technology transfer and commercialization support
TRIC Activities Project Review
Productivity Workshop
Project Demonstration
Technology Transfer
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PROJECT REVIEW WORKSHOP
The first TRIC project review workshop took place early this year. This workshop was organized for the selected projects of TRIC to allow them give progress report on work done on projects.
Workshop began with the Vice president of GTUC outlining objective of the workshop and said that the first part of the project ends by the end of February 2015.
Presentations were done for all nine projects. Some had made a little progress, others presented almost the same phase of the project. The presentations was followed by discussions on the various projects by a team.
After discussions on some of the challenges some researchers faced, it was agreed that another workshop be organized for proper demonstration of the product before the Technology fair which was going to be held on the 31st of March at GTUC.
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PROJECT REVIEW WORKSHOP
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PROJECT REVIEW WORKSHOP
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PRODUCTIVITY TRACKING WORKSHOP HELD IN KUMASI
The Ministry of Environment Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) organized a three day productivity tracking from the 10th - 12th of March 2015 at Kumasi Polytechnic Campus, Kumasi. The workshop was aimed at building the capacity of the technology centres in tracking the productivity of their various activities. The workshop was organized for the five beneficiary institutions from the GSTDP grant.
Activities carried out during the three day workshop included presentations by all five institutions on work plan for 2015. After which Adelaide made commented for changes to be made.
Mr. Gilbert Osei-Dadzie from COTVET Project Support Unit (PSU) facilitated the session on 'Developing Research Instruments'.
The instruments discussed included the following:
Questionnaires
Interviews
Observation and
Reading
After the presentation each institution was tasked to come out with an instrument for monitoring its project indicators. These were presented for comments by the group.
There was another session on 'Productivity tracking' facilitated by Mr. Johnson Boakye Yiadom from COTVET-PSU. This is to be used by the various institutions to track the productivity of the various private sector organizations or firms directly supported by the research and technology institutions.
According to him, the research institutions are expected to be approached by private sector firms to deal with specific technology and research or development needs of the private sector. Templates on productivity tracking were shared among the various institutions as samples to develop their own.
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Ghana Technology University College (GTUC) in partnership with four other institutions namely, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission(GAEC), University of Ghana (UG), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR) and Kumasi Polytechnic(K-Poly) organized a maiden technology fair to showcase technologies that have been developed under the Ghana Skills and Technical Development Project (GSTDP). These five institutions are beneficiaries of the World Bank grant to support demand driven technologies.
The fair was held at the Ghana Technology University College on the 31
st of March 2015.
The minister of Environment Science, Technology and Innovation was the Guest of honor for the fair. Opening the fair, Hon. Mahama Ayariga said the private sector should lead the push for technology and Innovation developed by Ghanaians. This would reduce reliance on foreign technology and products, which will increase foreign exchange earnings for economic growth.
He emphasized that Technology was the only way to grow the economy and called on the private sector to embrace and adopt these technologies for the county's development. Innovative technologies were on display from all the f ive inst i tut ions.
Among numerous technologies from Ghana Technology University College was the Integrated Web-Based Application using SMS/GIS/GPS for Location –Aware Disaster Management, the Brain Exercising game for Children, the Waste Plastic Modified Bitumen Project which is a project which utilizes waste plastics to modify bitumen for use as construction and repair material for roads in Ghana and the Students Record Management System.
Some projects displayed by CSIR included improved crop varieties, mushroom and its derivative, Wood products made from under-utilized tree species like coconut and oil Palm trunks. Mechanized palm nut cracker and kernel shell separator machine. Among many Projects from Kumasi Polytechnic were the Fufu pounding machine and the solar bags and Bicycle.
GAEC also displayed technologies in plant tissue culture materials, unmanned aerial vehicles, gamma radiation, compositing technology among many others.
Lastly University of Ghana also had on display products like automatic pineapple peeling machine, smart house technology, biometric voting system and soilless vegetable production technology, just to mention a few.
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SOLAR PROJECT
Solar energy is one of the promising supplementary forms of energy options for the future. It is known to be non- polluting, clean and have minimal operational costs. Ghana is well positioned, with enough radiation, to generate sustainable solar power for consumption.
In February, 2014 Ghana Technology University College was awarded a grant from COTVET/SDF to develop innovative curriculum content and facilitate Competency Based Training in Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Energy systems.
The Curriculum Content development which included the construction of solar rigs to depict the various installation configurations available was completed in 2014.
The Office of Research Services and Innovation (ORSI) is currently undertaking the competency based training for members of the Ghana Electrical Contractors Association (GECA) in the ten regional capitals of the country. Training has been completed in the following regions:
REGION
DATE
NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS
Greater Accra 29th August - 4th October 2014 136
Western Region
3rd October - 8th November 2014
102
Central Region 14th November - 6th December 2014 52
Volta Region 6th December 2014 - 24th January 2015 88
Eastern Region 23rd January - 14th February 2015 48
Ashanti Region 13th February - 21st March 2015 107
Brong Region 21st March - 26th April 2015 143
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SOLAR PROJECT
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SOLAR PROJECT
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PRODUCTIVITY DEMONSTRATION WORKSHOP
The Project demonstration workshop was organized for the researchers to demonstrate their final product to show its readiness to meet the market demands. A review committee made of the Vice President of GTUC, head of faculty of informatics, head of computer engineering and the head of Research reviewed all demonstrations and made some suggestion to improve the end product.
The first demonstration was on the integrated web based application using SMS/GIS/GPS, after demonstrating it, the committee advised that there should be more involvement of Stakeholders i.e. Ghana Police, NADMO and the Ghana Fire Service for their input.
After demonstration on the brain game for children, the committee suggested that sound and animation should be included, and also should further explore the possibility of translating it into our local language.
The Point of sales management system needs to involve qualified and profes sional accountants in the accounting area of the system.
On the integrated road accident reporting, it was advised that industrial partners should be consulted for their input.
The team on the waste plastics bitumen project was asked to lay the modified bitumen on a patch of road at GTUC and test its strength as the vehicles pass on it.
Comment on the Panbolic was that, there should be field testing with their industrial partner.
On the Students Record Management System, the committee suggested that researcher should work on a design to enable student data be accessed by using f inger print.
The last demonstration was the LED Screen project which was done in a small size. Committee asked that a miniature of a bigger one is to be developed and displayed on GTUC campus in Accra, they should also come out with market analysis to compare the price of production to the others on the market. H
In conclusion the projects were 80% completed with just some few modifications on product and follow ups on their industrial partners.
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FIRST QUARTER RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS
Mr. Peter Lawer Angmor: IT School of Business (Abeka Campus)
Title of Article
Working Capital Management Evidence from Ghanaian Listed Manufacturing Firms.
Relationship between Board Structure Characteristics and Financial Performance of Listed Food and Beverage Firms in Ghana.
The Effect of Supply Chain Management Practices on Performance of SMEs in Sekondi – Takoradi Metropolis of Ghana.
The effect of Dept financing on the profitability of SMEs in Accra Metropolis.
The Expectations -Augmented Philip Curve. Evidence from Ghana.
Corresponding Journal & Date
Journal of Economics and International Finance, December 2013.
Africa Development and Resources Research Institute (Addri) Journal, January 2015.
Adrri jounal of Arts and Social Sciences, May 2015.
International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, April 2014.
Mr. Solomon Samanhyia: GTUC Kumasi
Campus Title of Article
Assessing the Educational Quality Gap in Ghana. Evidence from the Ashanti Region. Financial Development and Economic Growth in a Post Financial Liberalization Era in Ghana.
Corresponding Journal & Date
International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management.
Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development.
Asian Journal of Economics and Empirical Research
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FIRST QUARTER RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS
Mr. Otu Larbi-Siaw: IT School of Business (Abeka Campus)
Title of Article
Determinants of Bank Deposit in Ghana: A Cointegration Approach.
Corresponding Journal & Date
Asian Journal of Economics and Empirical Research, April 2014.
Mr. Joseph Kwaku Arthur: Telecom Engineering
Title of Article
Feasibility Study on powering cell sites using renewable energy in Ghana.
Improving Qos inumts networks in Accra Business District using Tower-lecs towers.
Corresponding Journal & Date
IPASJ International Journal of Electrical Engineering (IIJEE), September-November 2 0 1 4 .
International Journal of Emerging Trends & Technology in Computer Science (IJETTCS), Nov. 2014.
Mr. Charles Asare: School of IT Business ( Abeka Campus)
Title of Article
Major Challenges hindering Reliable road transportation in downstream logistics.
Corresponding Journal & Date
Adrri jounal of Arts and Social Sciences, August 2014.
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OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES AND INNOVATION Ghana Technology University College
Tesano, Accra Telephone: 030 394 4031 Email: [email protected]
Website: www.tric.edu.gh
