The University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), will from tomorrow, Thursday, 10 September 2026, host the Engineering in Africa Conference 2026 (EiAC 2026), convened by the National Society of Black Engineers, Ghana (NSBE Ghana) in strategic partnership with the UPSA Enterprise and Innovation Centre (UEIC). The conference runs until Saturday, 12 September at the Kofi Ohene Konadu Auditorium, with over 1,200 delegates expected.
Under the theme “Engineering Africa’s Future: Innovation, Infrastructure and Impact”, the three days move from the systems Africa has inherited, to the systems it is building, to its engineering century. Morning keynotes lead into afternoon Engineering Labs, whose outputs feed the EiAC 2026 Declaration adopted on the final day.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor, will formally open the conference on Thursday, 10 September, with Edmond B. Kombat Esq., Managing Director of the Tema Oil Refinery, delivering the Day One keynote.
Friday, 11 September is Innovation Day, led by UEIC under the focus “Systems We Build: Innovation and Venture Development”. The Dean of the Faculty of Management Studies, Dr Ernest Mensah Abraham, will deliver the keynote address, followed by a keynote by Solace Kidisil of the Financial Technology Services Group, the “Founders and Futures” plenary and the Innovation Labs.
Saturday, 12 September opens with a keynote by Edmond Moukala, Head of the UNESCO Office in Ghana, and closes with the Declaration and an address by His Royal Majesty Drolor Bosso Adamtey I, former Chancellor of UPSA.
Peter Kwasi Kodjie (PhD), Director of UEIC, said the Centre’s expectation is that the conference leaves behind tested ideas and working relationships rather than a list of resolutions. “We are hosting EiAC 2026 because it fits the direction the Vice-Chancellor has set for UPSA. He named entrepreneurship, innovation and volunteerism, strategic partnerships and interdisciplinary research among his priorities on assuming office, and he has been consistent that our graduates should leave here as job creators rather than job seekers. This conference puts engineers, founders, policymakers and investors in the same room as our students for three days. What I expect from Innovation Day in particular is that every lab leaves with a small number of workable interventions, the partners to carry them and a realistic next step. UEIC will document those outputs and keep the connections active after the conference, because that is where the value of a gathering like this is realised.”
The partnership sits within the University’s wider entrepreneurship agenda. UPSA now requires every first year student to take Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Fundamentals of Ethics, and the Vice-Chancellor has described the University’s task as shifting from knowledge acquisition to value creation. UEIC, positioned within the Faculty of Management Studies, is the University’s flagship innovation and venture development hub, with programmes spanning entrepreneurship education, venture incubation and acceleration, the National Service entrepreneurship pathway, university enterprises, community integration and the planned UPSA Venture and Innovation Fund.
Participants will include UPSA students, engineering students from other institutions, participants in the Innovation Foundry accelerator and selected senior high school students, alongside industry professionals, investors and development partners. Registration opens at 9:00 a.m. each day, with main stage proceedings starting at 10:00 a.m.
Interested persons are invited to register at: https://engineeringinafrica.org/tickets
UPSA Management encourages students, faculty, professionals and the general public to attend.
