In a development that is set to change the face of technology in Ghana and strengthen the ties between the two countries, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has entered into an agreement with the Government of Ghana to develop a $1 billion state-of-the-art technology hub.
The bold move – formalized in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Accra yesterday — is aimed at making Ghana the leading digital innovation hub in Africa.
_The Ghana-UAE Innovation and Technology Park will be built within 25sq kilometres in Ningo-Prampram_The UAE’s Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC) will invest in the project.
The partnership will see that Ghana provides the land for this game-changing project. The hub, when up and running, is expected to woo more than 11,000 international companies, including tech behemoths such as Microsoft, Oracle, Meta, IBM, and Alphabet to the establishment of a regional African headquarters.
The strategic priority for the hub is to support innovation in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other new technologies. Business Design: Supports BPO & KPO, and the development of machine learning data for Africa.
One critical goal is to encourage digital entrepreneurship and generate credible, high-value, technology-enabled jobs for a growing youth population as well as developing the capacity of the country to export sophisticated technological solutions and value-added services.
The Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations of Ghana, Hon. Samuel Nartey George, underscored the positive impact of digital transformation in the development agenda of the country.
“This collaboration supports President John Dramani Mahama’s vision of a diversified Ghanaian economy and the role of innovation as a key driver of inclusive and sustainable growth”, he said. “This is not just about an infrastructure it’s about providing the building blocks of excellence for Ghanaian talent,” the Minister said, pointing to the country’s “One Million Coders Programme,” which is also geared to preparing young Ghanaians with critical digital skills in AI, cybersecurity and data governance areas.
H.E. Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World and Chairman of PCFC, emphasised the inevitability of the global transition towards innovation-dominated economies.
The hub will allow individuals to “dream, to create and bring ideas to life,” he said, adding that “automation and all these technological advancements are not about replacing jobs, but to move you into high-valued jobs in the technology and logistics industry”.
Jensen Huang, the outspoken CEO of graphics chip specialist Nvidia, has ruffled feathers in tech circles by predicting a trillion-dollar future for the Optimus robot Tesla is reportedly building.
Huang gushed on the subject earlier this week at a technology conference, hailing Elon Musk’s invention as a possible trigger for creating a brand new era in robotics; specifically, Huang sees an opportunity in a multi-trillion-dollar market not too far ahead.
Huang, whose company’s chips supply the essential computing power behind Tesla’s artificial intelligence and autonomous driving capabilities, waxed lyrical on Musk’s engineering skills.
He also spoke to the continued collaboration between Nvidia and Tesla when it comes to building out advanced computing infrastructure, indicating a long-standing partnership, even beyond the realm of automotive and into humanoid robotics.
“Elon is not just an ordinary engineer,” Huang said, highlighting the groundbreaking nature of Musk’s separate efforts like the Optimus robot, Tesla’s efforts in self-driving cars, and the Grok AI model.
URE prefers to think of it as Optimus becoming the “first robot that has real potential to serve at the technology scale and high volume needed to advance technology.” That, says Huang, will put Optimus at the forefront of what he believes will be the next multi-trillion dollar industry.
Tesla has been making wins with Optimus, say analysts. The company revealed earlier this year it plans to produce several thousand units of the humanoid robot for internal use in 2025, and will then release a next-generation version the following year after obtaining feedback from early adopters.
These working robots would be used for different applications, because they would change manufacturing completely and, later on, they would jump to other sectors.
The remaining path to Optimus’s trillion-dollar valuation is all speculative, but Huang’s seal of approval is significant within the tech and investment worlds. His rosy prediction is further proof of the surging optimism around how next-generation humanoid robots could influence human life and the world economy.
The partnership of Nvidia, where AI computing was born, and Tesla, which established the electric car and electric vehicle now empowered with robotics, represents the leading edge of this intelligence. Investors and industry watchers are going to be watching Tesla’s progress with Optimus over the next few years closely, seeing if Huang’s trillion-dollar dreams will come true.