Mälardalen University Delegation Pays Working Visit to KEEP and RAIL to Explore Strategic Areas for Collaboration

The KNUST College of Engineering welcomed a high-level delegation from Mälardalen University, Sweden, on May 22, 2025. The visit, led by Prof. Damir Isović, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, and Dr. Barni Nor, Strategic Liaison for Africa for the University, was focused on exploring collaborative opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI), innovation, and sustainable development with the Responsible Artificial Lab (RAIL) and the KNUST Engineering Education Project (KEEP).

The visit commenced with a courtesy call on Prof. Emmanuel E. A. Frimpong, the Dean of the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering. This meeting offered an opportunity to align institutional visions. During the introductory session, Prof. Frimpong welcomed the guests and expressed optimism about the potential for a long-term partnership focused on innovation, applied research, and sustainable development.

The discussions explored multiple layers of academic and research collaboration. Prof. Jerry John Kponyo, Project Lead for KEEP and Principal Investigator and Scientific Director of RAIL, emphasised RAIL’s commitment to Responsible Artificial Intelligence, describing ongoing efforts to ensure ethical, sustainable deployment of AI, particularly in service of the Sustainable Development Goals. He also highlighted the college’s growing interest in quantum computing, noting that it has already begun postgraduate quantum courses and is establishing a dedicated lab, with international faculty collaborations underway.

In response, Prof. Isovic shared Mälardalen University’s strategic investments in AI and quantum technologies, including partnerships with industry leaders like IBM and universities such as Berkley for courses on quantum. He further stated that they have developed a CUDA Quantum teaching platform and actively participate in Sweden’s national efforts to compete globally in quantum computing research.

The conversation also delved into entrepreneurship and student innovation. Prof. Isovic introduced Mälardalen’s Idea Lab, an incubator that supports student-led startups from ideation to commercialisation, resulting in over 300 student-founded companies. Prof. Frimpong expressed strong interest, noting that KNUST prioritises innovation-driven entrepreneurship by establishing the Innovation hub in the College of Engineering.

Both institutions acknowledged the critical role of early-stage education. Dr. Nor noted Mälardalen’s collaboration with high schools, which mirrors RAIL’s outreach and mentoring programs in senior high schools, including robotics training and lab visits, aimed at cultivating interest in STEM from a young age.

Discussions also spotlighted materials science and the future of electric vehicles. Prof. Mensah Darkwa highlighted Materials Engineering’s research on critical minerals such as lithium and cobalt. At the same time, Prof. Isovic discussed Sweden’s recent battery recycling projects, including collaborations with Volvo and a now-defunct but technologically advanced company, Nordwolf. Both sides warmly welcomed the potential for joint research into second-life battery applications.

As the meeting drew to a close, both agreed on the need to formalise their collaboration through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). However, Prof. Kponyo emphasised that any MOU must be actionable, measurable, and tied to real outcomes, student exchanges, faculty visits, joint research, or innovation hubs.

The delegation met with various thematic leads under the RAIL project after the courtesy call. Prof. Kponyo set the tone by reemphasising the lab’s mission to use artificial intelligence not simply for technological advancement, but to drive meaningful, measurable contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals. “We are deliberate about the problems we choose to solve,” he explained. “We focus on areas where AI can improve life, especially for the underserved.”

The first area of focus was agriculture, an essential pillar of Ghana’s economy and an industry ripe for innovation. Dr. Eric Tutu Tchao, the AI in Agriculture theme lead, presented solutions developed in close partnership with smallholder farmers and local agribusinesses. These included a machine-learning-powered weather prediction system built on indigenous knowledge and real-time environmental data, a smartphone-based soil analysis and crop recommendation tool, and drone systems for monitoring crop health over large farms. He reported that these interventions had already improved yields by as much as 40% in some pilot communities. Beyond productivity, he emphasised how these solutions changed the nature of agricultural decision-making, transforming guesswork into data-driven precision.

In AI in health is the Care4Rare project, an initiative designed to detect and diagnose rare diseases in children using a combination of facial recognition, genome sequencing, and AI-driven phenotype analysis. The project addresses a pressing need in a region where rare conditions often go undiagnosed due to a lack of resources. Complementing this, the Diagnostic AI project is focused on building tools to support medical professionals. With Ghana’s physician-to-patient ratio among the lowest globally, these AI systems aim to triage minor medical cases, improve radiological diagnostics through image translation (CT to MRI), and eventually ease the strain on human doctors, especially in rural areas.

Another initiative was SignTalk, an AI-based communication interface designed for use in hospitals to support speech- and hearing-impaired patients. The team has built an open-source Ghanaian sign language dataset and developed a functional prototype capable of translating sign language into text and voice, and vice versa. The vision is to create real-time communication between patients and doctors, making healthcare more accessible and humane for persons with disabilities. Engagement with the Ministry of Health is underway to gain regulatory clearance for clinical pilots.

Closely related to the inclusivity agenda is the “I-Wheel” project, which focuses on assistive mobility. This initiative retrofits standard wheelchairs with affordable smart navigation systems. Users can control movement via voice commands in local dialects or rely on environmental sensors for semi-autonomous travel. Developed in direct consultation with users and disability communities, iWheel represents a locally appropriate solution to a global problem: providing mobility, independence, and dignity to individuals who often face compounded barriers in public infrastructure.

The delegation also heard from the Innovation Hub team, led by the Innovation Manager, who showcased how KNUST is turning research into startups. Among the success stories was a solar-powered innovative irrigation system that integrates moisture sensing, nutrient monitoring, and app-based controls designed to support smallholder farmers. Currently piloted in Ghana’s Volta and Bono regions, the system is scalable and affordable, with trials showing promising results.

Other notable innovation success stories included an early crop disease detection toolbox, developed in collaboration with RAIL to support smallholder farmers. One startup is repurposing plastic waste to build robotic carts that assist farmers in transporting tools across their fields. Another is turning rice husks into biodegradable packaging, offering a sustainable alternative to plastic while creating added value from farm byproducts. In the energy sector, students and faculty have successfully retrofitted local tricycles (Okada) to run on lithium-ion batteries, monitored via a mobile app that tracks performance and usage. These efforts are being strengthened through partnerships with solar installation and energy storage companies, accelerating the path from prototype to market.

Another thematic area was quantum computing, an emerging frontier that KNUST is pursuing with bold ambition. The university has introduced a postgraduate course in Quantum Information Science within the telecommunications department, developed in collaboration with Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Virginia Tech. The course combines theory and applied computation, using platforms like IBM’s Qiskit to simulate entanglement, superposition, and quantum algorithms. With growing student interest and plans to expand into the physics and computer science departments, the team emphasised their goal of positioning KNUST as a regional leader in quantum research and education.

Dr. Martina then presented the Women in Technology – AI in Education programme, which targets female students at the tertiary and pre-tertiary levels. The programme currently runs across 17 senior high schools and five junior high schools, offering training in robotics, coding, and machine learning, alongside mentorship by female professionals in STEM.

“Many of the students initially had no idea what coding was. But by the end of the programme, they are confidently writing Python scripts and building robots,” she said.

Dr. Bani Nor, visibly moved, praised the programme for addressing deep-rooted gender inequities in technology. “This is how we break stereotypes, by giving young girls tools to realise their potential.”

Dr. Martina noted that while interest is high at the registration stage, there’s often a drop during practical implementation. The team plans to conduct impact evaluations to assess long-term outcomes, including how participation affects university enrolments in engineering and computer science programmes.

Throughout the session, members of the Mälardalen delegation asked probing questions, often drawing parallels to similar projects in Sweden. Dr. Nor underscored how deeply aligned the two institutions are in emphasising equity, sustainability, and practical impact. “This is the kind of partnership our Vice Chancellor envisioned, not one that exists on paper, but one that moves the needle on real problems,” she said.

As the presentations wrapped, both institutions expressed excitement about the road ahead. An actionable Memorandum of Understanding is in the works, but even before it’s signed, teams from both universities are already identifying researchers, matching interests, and laying the groundwork for collaborative projects.