By Joseph AKYEAMPONG Esq
In a statement by Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, eminent cardiologist during his tenure as Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, he bemoaned Africa’s lack of technology as one of the reasons for its underdevelopment.
He advocated the imperative of significantly increasing the budget for research and development of African countries to scale up their development. President John Mahama during his first term as President, redesignated the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation.
The question which was asked at the time of redesignation was the intended benefit of the addition of Innovation to the name of the Ministry.
Innovation in its popular conception has been construed to mean the now familiar phraseology of “thinking outside the box”. However, applied in the business sense and especially in international business, innovation means the process of creating a product or service which is novel, different and exciting. With the advent of globalisation, international businesses have leveraged on factor cost differentials across the world leading to the production of new and exciting products which has contributed to the ease of life and the facilitation of business operations.
Innovative products by international businesses
Innovative products and services which have excited the world have mainly been produced by top notch international companies. The most popular among them are Google, Microsoft, Apple, Intel, Du Pont, Samsung, Sony and others. Some of the products which have been developed by these companies and fascinated the world are in computer and digital applications, IPods, IPhones, the World Wide Web and lately the invention of AI.
R&D as the anchor of technological development
A deduction from Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng’s statement is that, technological development is a key prerequisite in the development of new products and services by industry. International businesses across the wide spectrum of technology, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing etc. devote considerable amounts of their budgets to R&D.
Rigorous pursuit of R&D by international businesses has led to the crystallisation of R&D activities of these companies in Silicon Valley in California, US, Cambridge in the UK, Kobe in Japan, Singapore, Bangalore in India, Beijing in China among other places.
The development of new products is through the interplay of R&D, marketing and manufacturing units of companies. New products are developed and produced through the rigorous application of R&D which are inspired by customer needs considering the ease of manufacture, the cost of the development of the product not to be excessive and the time for marketing the product for acceptability not to be overly long.
The interplay of R&D and innovation
R&D straddles the spectrum of invention and the development of new products and services. It has subsequently been held that innovation is the commercialisation of the exploitation of new ideas and inventions arising from the application of R&D. Consequently, innovation completes the development and invention of new products and services.
In the book, EXPLORING INNOVATION, Mc Graw Hill Higher Education Publishers 2nd Edition by David Smith, it is stated that, “innovation embraces both a technological and a creative dimension that we normally refer to as invention, together with a commercial dimension that involves the exploitation of the invention to turn it from a model or prototype into something that is available in the market for customers to purchase.
This latter aspect is much less heroic and less glamorous than invention but it is crucial. Without it, an invention is little more than a great idea and all too often, this is an element of innovation that is neglected, with disappointed consumers being the result. Only when both aspects have been effectively handled that one has innovation.”
Criteria for the classification of a product as an innovation
It is often the case that new and novel products or services which are offered by international businesses are described as innovative products and attract the fancy of consumers. Examples are the mobile phone, laptops and electronic devises like IPods, IPads etc. For a product to be classified as an innovation in international business, it must be entirely new and novel in the sense of the product being new to the market and consumers.
A product could also be said to be an innovation when a product with similar attributes already exists in the market but is reintroduced into the market at a later time by another company with enhanced attributes and features.
When a product which was previously in existence but introduced by another company with new attributes and enhancements, it is said that the product has had “line extensions”. In the circumstances, the degree of novelty of the product is diminished and not regarded as a product born out of innovation. The product is said to have new additions or attributes to appeal to a new cohort of
consumers. A product which is an addition to the already existing products on the market is not to be regarded as a novel product born out of innovation. This is said to be “re-positioning”. For example, when Unilever, a dominant company in the skin and home care market introduced its “Clear Blue” pregnancy test kit into the market, this was not a product born out of innovation as it was already in the market by another company. It was only an addition to Unilever’s range of products.
The imputation of commercialisation in the concept of innovation
By employing R&D in the process of invention, new ideas and discoveries are made which are taken through experimentation following which a product finally comes out which is fit for purpose and marketable to consumers.
Once the product of the invention through R&D is made, it has to attain commercial viability by undergoing further processes through certification etc to ensure its commercial production at optimum cost and the adaptability of its use by the consumer. It is only when the product has come full cycle through R&D and its introduction to the consumer through commercialisation that the full nexus of R&D and innovation would have been established.
David Smith in his book, EXPLORING INNOVATION captures this sequence of events in stating that, “Innovation therefore includes not only invention, but also activities that facilitate the introduction of new or improved products or services unto the market. These activities form part of exploitation/commercialisation phase which is such an essential part of innovation”.
Relevance of innovation in the Ghanaian context
Drawing on the statement by Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng and the redesignation by President Mahama of the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, it behoves the academic and industrial community to create synergy for effective collaboration facilitated by the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation to bring into fruition the full cycle of collaboration to achieve the object of innovation.
It is reported that the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research CSIR has through its research activities pioneered several inventions which could be commercialised as has been done by international businesses.
However, since CSIR does not possess manufacturing plants to commercialise its inventions, most of them are said to be lying idle with only existing prototypes in their laboratories and showrooms. There must be a strong collaboration between CSIR and industry to commercialise its inventions as has been done by international businesses, facilitated by the Ministry of Environment,
Science, Technology and Innovation. This will justify the redesignation of the Ministry.
The writer is a lawyer with specialisation in international business law.
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