I recently came back from Accra, Ghana, where I spoke at a workshop about Digital Transformation, Digital Public Goods and Digital Public Infrastructure. Around 50 people from different parts of the Ghanaian government attended.
In my talks, I shared how Mauritius is progressing in the technology sector and how we are in the process to submit Digital Public Goods to the DPG Alliance. I emphasised using technology, including emerging technologies, like IoT, Blockchain, Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence to reach our goals. Drawing from my academic background, I highlighted how AI assistants (based on similar technologies as ChatGPT) can help create smart citizens in both Mauritius and Ghana. The Q&A sessions after each talk were lively and engaging.
I also got to hear from Jason Hickey, Head of Google Research in Accra, Ghana. He discussed Google’s research in predicting weather, improving ultrasound images using affordable sensors and translating local languages into text, inter alia. All these research projects were done using AI.
The workshop was organised by the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (GI-KACE), the UNDP Chief Digital Office and the UNDP Ghana Country Office. Special thanks to Fred Yeboah, Jacqueline Tsuma and Seth Akumani.
Ghana and its people are amazing, and I wish them all the best.
