Industry-research partnership tipped to spur market-driven innovations: as Heritors Labs and partners launch second edition of ARICS

Research and web 3.0 company Heritors Labs Limited, in collaboration with its funding partner RISA Fund and other collaborators, has launched the second edition of the Africa Research and Innovation Commercialization Summit (ARICS 2025) in Accra.

The flagship summit is a gathering of the continent’s leading researchers, innovators, top-level government officials and the private business community to deliberate and share ideas and solutions that will move research outcomes and innovations from the lab to markets across the continent and beyond.

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The two-day event which is scheduled to take place from March 13-14, 2025, will be held on the theme “From labs to market: scaling industry uptake of innovation and research outcomes.”

Chief Executive Officer of Heritors Labs, Derrydean Dadzie, in his welcome remarks, indicated that ARICS seeks to build actionable pathways to transform African research into solutions that drive growth of the continent and bring better living to its people

“ARICS 2025 is a catalyst for meaningful change; and our goal is to awaken the sleeping giants in Africa’s industry and bring to limelight the critical role that they play in stimulating the adoption and uptake of research and innovation outcomes across the continent,” he said.

Mr. Dadzie said that the theme for the upcoming summit emphasizes the practical steps needed to commercialize African research outcomes and innovations.

“We have the power to turn research outcomes into agents of growth and prosperity; we need not to relent on but rather push through with all hands on deck. It’s only when industry steps into its pivotal role that they can unlock the great potential within our research and innovation value chains,” he indicated.

On her part, the Deputy Director-General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Professor Marian Quain, noted that ARICS 2025 will be a platform to showcase home-grown research products and innovations and rallied stakeholder support for the summit.

She noted: “As Africans, we have come to the point where we have to take our destiny in our own hands; we are more than capable of producing to feed the continent and that’s the very essence of the upcoming ARICS 2025.”

“In ARICS, we want our research and innovations to be commercialized, we want to feed ourselves and we want to export to grow our economy,” Prof. Quain added.

She further commended the partnership between her institution—the leading research in Ghana and Africa—and Heritors Labs towards the advancement of research and innovation commercialization in Ghana.

The ARICS also marks a significant milestone in Africa’s collective effort to foster the culture of research and innovation across the continent, and underscores the commitment of the UK government to harness the power of research and innovation to tackle pressing challenges on the continent, according Mr. Johnson Singir, who is the science and innovation network manager for the FCDO in Ghana.

He said that by creating platforms like ARICS for the ecosystem and enhancing the capacity of African institutions, RISA is helping to build the foundation for sustainable innovations and economic development.

“By bringing together researchers, innovators, policymakers and industry keepers, the summit will provide an avenue for collaboration and exchange of ideas that paves the way for research and innovation advancements that can drive socio-economic growth,” he added.

Senior Programme Officer of the Private Enterprise Federation (PEF), Mr. Wisdom Adongo, reaffirmed the critical role of industry in facilitating commercial uptake of research and innovation.

He said African governments must work with researchers and the private sector to come roll out practical homegrown solutions to Africa’s problems, emphasizing that ARICS will be a stepping stone to push that agenda.

“Industry is a key player in research and with this summit we can change the narrative regarding private sector uptake of research outcomes. And we can only take full advantage of the single continental market with innovative and tradable commodities through productive research,” he stressed.

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