Ghana's digital agenda can only be possible through inclusion of all - Bawumia

All stakeholders must participate in achieving a digital economy

Plans are in place to situate a technology park in Ghana

This was disclosed at the launch of the Ghana Digital Innovation week

Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has called for an all-inclusive approach in enhancing Ghana’s digitalization agenda.
According to him, conversations on how best

Read full articleGhana can position itself to drive its development agenda through inclusive and collaborative stakeholder participation in the ecosystem should be paramount.

He believes that, “it is through an open inclusive and participatory process that the voices of all can be heard in Ghana’s digital future and unleash the true potential that innovation holds."

Speaking at the launch of the Ghana Digital Innovation Week that begins from the 22nd to 26th of November, the vice president reaffirmed government’s commitment to transforming Ghana through digitalization.

Ghana’s innovation ecosystem continues to grow over the last decade with a positioning as a leading frontier in digital transformation in Africa. The impetus has been enormous, substantial and worth celebrating to further deepen the potentials in innovating solutions that address critical needs, and at the same time create economic opportunities for citizens.

In line with the Trilateral Co-operation among Ghana, Germany and Israel, with local ecosystem partners initiated in 2019, the need for Ghana Digital Innovation Week emerged to create synergies towards a more collaborative and inclusive ecosystem for Ghana’s innovation and development.

Dr. Bawumaia explained that a “vibrant modern Ghana can only be built if strong institutions and systems are in place, without these, this nation will be stuck in a vicious cycle of rhetoric and under development.”
The COVID-19 pandemic slowed down economic growth, among other challenges it also taught us that to rebuild our post pandemic economy, there is an urgent need to invest in innovative technology to leapfrog the obstacles to inclusive development.

He believes digitization and leveraging of technology for economic development is the surest and most urgent revolution that need the most attention currently.
Dr. Bawumia is however calling for the collaboration of stakeholders in bringing on board experience, expertise and networks of all countries particularly those on the African continent, to achieve an inclusive accelerated digital transformation journey.

“We shall continue to nurture our local ecosystem and establish connections with our ecosystems abroad. Innovations sees no boundaries but for us to explore full potentials, we must join hands within our local ecosystems and also across innovation ecosystems in Africa and elsewhere to strengthen our foundations and accelerate innovations."

He added that, Ghana is in talks with Israel to situate a technology park to drive the technological agenda of the country.

“It is in view of this that Government has decided that we need a technology park, a technology and innovation park in Ghana. We have been talking to partners, we’ve sent a team out to Israel to take a look at what they have been doing in this area, we’ve seen what Rwanda is doing, but our vision is to establish Ghana as a tech and innovation hub in West Africa to start with and then we will take it from there,” he explained.