Since its establishment in 1972, the Technology Consultancy Centre (TCC) has been playing a pivotal role in the grassroots industrialization of Ghana. This is in keeping with its original mandate as an interface between the KNUST and the outside world. It does this through the transitioning of research output from the university into industry in all matters bearing on technology transfer. The most outstanding component of this success story is the adoption, replication, and diffusion in the 1990s of the TCC’s technology transfer model namely, the Intermediate Technology Transfer Unit (ITTU), by the Government of Ghana through its GRATIS Project (now GRATIS Foundation).
TCC has gained enormous national and international experience working with organizations such as the World Bank/Government of Malawi, FAO, European Commission, CIDA, UNESCO, DFID, GIZ, USAID, MIT-USA, University of Pennsylvania, and Olin College, USA. For the greater part of its 42 years of existence, the TCC has sought to fulfill its role through the development and transfer of relevant expertise and equipment, a process which has led to the proliferation of small engineering enterprises in Kumasi and Ghana. TCC has provided hands-on training to over 6000 entrepreneurs, students and apprentices in Ghana, Malawi, Togo, Sierra Leone, Cote D’lvoire, Burkina Faso and Cameroon.
At the present time the TCC is undergoing a restructuring exercise meant to reposition it so it can respond to the challenges of a fast-changing technological world. This process, when completed, may result in a name change where the word “Consultancy” will drop in favour of “Innovation” to reflect current trends. Another dimension of this restructuring will be the creation of space for interested academic staff to apply to become Fellows of the Centre.
The usual focus of TCC is on applied and field-based research and development and technology transfer aimed at wealth creation among micro and small-scale enterprises.
Organizational Structure
To realize the above objective, the TCC functions under the overall leadership of a Director and works through the following Operational Units:
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Suame Intermediate Technology Transfer Unit (ITTU)
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Applied Industrial Ceramics and Rural Enterprise Development (AIC-RED) Unit
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Graduate Entrepreneurship Training and Youth Empowerment (GET-YE)
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Cookstove Testing and Expertise Laboratory (C-Lab)
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Consultancy
These units are headed by a team of Senior Research/Research Fellows. Technicians with expertise in specialised fields, along with production operatives assist the researchers in the day-to-day running of the various Units. These researchers possess extensive local and international experience in field research, training and technology transfer, baseline studies, and impact evaluation.