The unemployment rate in the country could be reduced if government provides enough funds to support technology and innovation, Mr. Emmanuel Asiedu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Gratis Foundation has observed.

“Skills training, technology, innovation and industrialisation are some of the key sectors, which if well funded by government with support from the private sector, could drastically reduce the unemployment rate in the country”, he said.

Speaking in an interview with The Ghanaian Times on the benefits of investing in technology and innovation, as a means of creating jobs, wealth and eradicating poverty in Accra, the CEO said most developing countries like USA, Asia and the rest had overcome unemployment challenges through technologies and industrialisation by allocating much funds to the sector.

He was optimistic that with enough budgetary allocation for activities including research, Ghana would become an industraliased hub that could produce and use its own inventions.

Mr. Asiedu said sending people outside to upgrade their knowledge in engineering was critical in building local manpower for the country’s industrialisation agenda.

He stressed that the country could adopt the Acquired, Redesigned and Adopt (ARA) system where technology could be borrowed and redesigned to suit the country’s needs.

Mr. Asiedu said with such a system, our natural resource such as cocoa, oil, gold and others which are extracted by foreigners at a high cost due to lack of technical expertise and machines would be a thing of the past.

He said GRATIS had designed a Computerized Numerical Control Machine (CNCM) that can produce all forms of designed shapes for all companies.

The CEO said his outfit could also produce machines and the technology needed to address the developmental needs of the country and called on government to assist the foundation.