It is not every day that the Provost of one of the world’s top universities steps into your backyard to talk about innovation. But that is exactly what happened when Professor Ian Walmsley, CBE FRS, Provost of Imperial College London, visited the University of Ghana to deliver a lecture on how universities can serve as engines of development by turning research into impact.
The event, which formed part of the 2025 Vice-Chancellor’s Occasional Lecture Series, brought together faculty, students, researchers, industry leaders and development partners to explore what it truly means for a university to be useful to society.
In his lecture, Professor Walmsley made a strong argument for why universities must go beyond traditional outputs such as academic papers and conference presentations. He said institutions of higher learning should actively support the translation of ideas from laboratories into real-world applications, technologies, businesses and policy solutions that tackle complex societal problems.
“Innovation is at our core, application at our heart,” he declared. “The founding mission of Imperial College has always been to be useful. That means getting research from our laboratories into the real world where it can make a difference.”
He illustrated this with examples from Imperial College’s own innovation ecosystem, which includes the White City Deep Tech Campus and the Imperial West Tech Corridor. These hubs serve, according to the Provost, as research spaces but as springboards for venture creation, co-locating startups, accelerators, students, researchers, and global industry partners.
Imperial currently supports more than 370 active startups and boasts partnerships with over 500 companies across sectors and regions. Remarkably, the university’s startup survival rate is 79%, a figure far above the UK average of 10%. Prof. Walmsley attributed this to deliberate institutional design coupled with an entrepreneurial culture, dedicated innovation programmes, patent and legal support and access to early-stage capital.
Professor Walmsley also challenged the traditional approach to spinouts, where a researcher finds a novel idea and looks for a market afterwards. He argued that Imperial has shifted to a market-led model, where the starting point is a real-world problem and the goal is to match the best science with the most valuable solutions.
“Too often, we begin with a solution in search of a problem,” he said. “We’ve flipped that. Now, we focus on the problems that matter most and assemble the science, business models and partnerships needed to solve them.”
This model has led to the formation of more than 50 academic-led spinouts and over 230 student-led startups since 2019. The process is supported by structures such as the Founders Choice programme, Impact Accelerator accounts, Imperial Venture Mentoring, and dedicated commercialisation teams.
Another key feature of Imperial’s strategy is the deliberate push for interdisciplinarity, through what the university calls “convergence science.” This approach brings together scientists, engineers, technologists and social scientists under shared missions, whether in health, artificial intelligence, sustainability, or space and security.
At Imperial, this approach has been structurally embedded through the creation of Schools of Convergence Science and encouraged across departments and faculties. According to the Provost, this allows for the development of “barrier-breaking solutions” that would be impossible within the bounds of a single discipline.
In addition to building capacity at home, Imperial has established the Imperial Global Network, strategic hubs in cities and regions around the world. These are designed to expand the university’s research reach, promote regional partnerships, attract international talent, and promote innovation globally.
For Ghanaian institutions, this global-local balance is instructive. As Prof. Walmsley noted, “Being present in key regions helps us amplify impact, attract talent, and remain truly global.”
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, who hosted and chaired the event, commended the lecture as both timely and insightful. She noted that the discussion aligned closely with the University’s ongoing efforts to reposition itself as a hub for impactful research, innovation, and partnerships.
“The issues discussed today resonate strongly with our own journey,” she said. “Imperial’s success reminds us that industry partners are not just stakeholders, they are co-creators in the innovation process. No ecosystem can thrive without strong partnerships, both local and global.”
Prof. Amfo also stressed the importance of embracing interdisciplinarity and ensuring that innovation frameworks account for intellectual property rights and fair returns. “For innovation to be sustainable and inclusive, everyone must have confidence in the system and be willing to participate,” she said.
PC: University of Ghana Public Affairs Directorate
She further encouraged faculty to take an active interest in the University of Ghana’s innovation agenda and to pursue collaborations with institutions like Imperial, which offer tried and tested models for translating research into real-world outcomes.
The Vice-Chancellor’s Occasional Lecture Series continues to serve as a platform for engaging thought leaders whose insights can shape university strategy and influence national development policy. In hosting Professor Walmsley, the University of Ghana opened its doors to global ideas and also signalled its intention to be part of the next frontier in research-led development, which the university’s vision seeks to make global, people-centred and technology-driven.
From all indications, if Ghana’s universities are to remain relevant, competitive and impactful, they must establish systems that connect discovery with enterprise, science with society, and research with results. Notably, they have a strong global example to follow in the story and approach of Imperial College London.
