DIPPER Lab, Gearbox Kenya Explore Local Innovation Hub and Production Facility for Ghana
The Distributed IoT-Platforms, Privacy and Edge-Intelligence Research (DIPPER Lab) is taking steps to boost Ghana’s local innovation and manufacturing capacity through strategic collaboration with Gearbox, a leading hardware innovation centre in Kenya.
A team from DIPPER Lab, led by Prof. Eric Tutu Tchao, Scientific Director, and Dr. Enoch Bessah, Research Lead for Climate Change, visited the Gearbox facility in Nairobi.
The discussions focused on setting up a local production facility in Ghana, not only for the FarmSense technology, but also to support student innovation, prototyping, and small-scale manufacturing.
The proposed facility is envisioned as a national hardware and innovation hub where researchers, students, and young entrepreneurs can develop and build practical solutions tailored to Ghana’s needs.
“We're looking beyond FarmSense
“We want to build local capacity that allows Ghanaian innovators to design, prototype, and manufacture their own technologies, whether in agriculture, health, or climate resilience,” said Prof. Tchao.
Dr. Kamau Gachigi, Executive Director of Gearbox, hosted the DIPPER Lab team and provided insights into how Kenya has developed local production ecosystems to reduce dependency on imported technologies.
“It’s critical that African countries develop an import substitution strategy
“That begins with empowering local innovators and giving them access to the right tools and environments to create,” Dr. Gachigi noted.
The engagement comes ahead of the official launch of FarmSense in Ghana, scheduled for October 20, 2025, at the IDL Conference Centre, KNUST.
A product of collaboration between DIPPER Lab and Sesi Technologies, FarmSense offers smallholder farmers access to soil analysis, crop recommendations, and nutrient planning using AI-powered hardware and software tools.
The initiative is supported by the Research and Innovation Systems for Africa (RISA) Fund, with funding from UK International Development, under the Africa Agri-Tech Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).
The launch will be held under the theme:
“From Research to Action: Advancing Agriculture in Ghana Through Industry-Academia Collaborations.”
By tapping into Gearbox’s experience and ecosystem model, DIPPER Lab hopes to accelerate the establishment of Ghana’s own hardware innovation hub, providing the infrastructure and mentorship needed for local production, applied research, and youth-led innovation across sectors.
