The Year In Review

It can be seen that the tech ecosystem in Africa has grown tremendously in the year 2024 and Ghana has played a central role in Africa's digital transformation. To give you a better idea of some of the most important events that have played a significant role in the development of technology and creation of partnerships across the continent here are some key highlights of Ghana's tech events in 2024:

Ghana Tech Conferences

1. Tech In Ghana Conference 

Organized twice annually, in London and Accra, Tech in Ghana provides a valuable avenue for its burgeoning tech industry to come together, engage in global knowledge exchange, network with industry peers and showcase innovation. The Accra Edition, was originally hosted in 2017 in partnership with Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Minister for Communications & Digitalization. Since then, it has grown to become a platform for bringing together leaders from the public, private, and third sectors. The two-day event has been supported and attended by entities including the Office of the Vice President, British High Commission, World Bank, Meta, Visa, GIZ, Ghana Hubs Network, GIPC and many more.

This is years edition brought together over 500 people in the tech world, government regulators and investors. It focused on Ghana’s tech sector which is worth $2. 6 billion, advancing in the areas of policy, innovation, and human capacity. The event was an opportunity to discover the achievements of Ghana in the field of technology as well as the potential for the future. Learn more about the event here

2. Ghana Tech Summit

The second edition of the Ghana Tech Summit 2024 (Diaspora Edition) took place in Fordham University Law School - New York on November 26,2024 @ 2-5pm EST.

This is a 13-year initiative which is aimed at showcasing Ghana as the epicenter for innovation across the globe and it brings together hundreds of entrepreneurs, investors, digital marketers and creatives under one roof to address humanity’s greatest challenges via technology and entrepreneurship. This event was a successful one bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, digital marketers and creatives to find out the innovative technologies and solutions for challenges in the country's entrepreneurial economy. Visit their website for more info; www.ghanatechsummit.com/

An Event For Developers

3. DevFest - Kumasi / Accra

DevFest is an annual decentralized tech conference hosted by Google Developer Groups across the globe. DevFests are an amazing platform for developers to connect locally; learn and build on Google’s tools and the 2024 DevFest was held on Saturday, November 2, 2024, 10:30 AM – 6:00 PM at Kumasi Technical University and another edition at Accra Technical University, Barnes Road, Accra, on September 14, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM, this year’s edition explored the importance of developing technologies that enhance productivity without causing harm. The event created an opportunity for developers to enhance their skills and interact with each other. The event included practical workshops, coding demo, and technical sessions to enhance the developers’ community and spirit of learning.

Mining And Power Conference In Ghana

4. WAMPOC / WAMPEX 2024

Date: June 5-7

Location: Accra

WAMPOC/WAMPEX is a conference and exhibition organized by DMG events and projects international and Ghana Chamber Of Mines with endorsement from the Ministry Of Lands And Natural Resources, the Minerals Commission, Ministry Of Energy, the Environment Protection Agency and Energy Commission Of Ghana .

This event was specific to the mining and power sectors and brought together policy makers, service delivery providers, and other industry players. It facilitated a forum for discussion on innovation, policy and investment in the mining and power sectors in West Africa. It also created the opportunity for participants to debate and discuss strategies to develop diversified economies, the latest insights on sustainability and innovative technologies in the sectors.

This platform has grown significantly since it's maiden event 30 years ago and has attracted participants from the Mining and Power industries around the globe. The next edition of WAMPEX will be on 28th - 30th May 2025

To learn more, visit wampoc.org , www.wampexwestafrica.com

AI Events And Education In Ghana

5. AfricAIED 2024 

The AfricAIED 2024 Workshop on AI in Education in Africa, held on July 8th, 2024, in Accra, was a tremendous success which brought together 18 speakers and 125 participants — 45 people in person and 54 online. 26 online participants from the AIED Conference in Brazil also joined.

This workshop was on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) and how AIED can transform the African education system. It also had a virtual AI Hackathon to get participants ready for the Ghana National Science & Maths Quiz with the help of AI tools in the teaching and learning process.

The workshop was preceded by a one month long hackathon from May 21st to June 17th, the challenge was to build an open-source, AI-powered tool that should enable students to prepare for the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) using any of the open-source outputs from the Brilla AI project, an AI contestant that was deployed to unofficially compete remotely and live in the Riddles round of the 2023 NSMQ Grand Finale, the first of its kind in the 30-year history of the competition. Brilla AI is currently available as a web app that livestreams the Riddles round of the contest, and runs 4 machine learning systems: (1) speech to text (2) question extraction (3) question answering and (4) text to speech that work together in real-time to quickly and accurately provide an answer, and then say it with a Ghanaian accent. (you can get more info on the Brilla AI project here). The Hackathon had 47 teams with 121 team members. At the end, there were 12 submissions and 3 top teams. The hackathon concluded with presentations from the top three teams. Read more here; www.africaied.org/recap

6. AI Afahyɛ

AI Ghana, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to address real-world challenges, held its maiden edition of the AI Afahyɛ event on Saturday, September 21st, in Accra.

The event brought together tech experts and enthusiasts from across Ghana, it also included participation and partnerships from various tech startups and institutions.

This event is the first of its kind. A festival dubbed "AI Afahyɛ" aimed at facilitating knowledge transfer, promoting research, and creating avenue for collaboration for AI projects and adoption in Ghana and across Africa. This event celebrated and promoted innovative technologies in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Machine Learning and Deep Learning. The festival brought together experts, innovators, influencers, and passionate individuals who are making a difference in society through the use of artificial intelligence to address real-world problems.

These events show the commitment of Ghana to boost the technology sector and promote innovation thus enhancing its role in Africa’s tech scene an facilitating a platform for opportunities to network, learn and innovate. As the tech world evolve, Ghana’s forward-thinking initiatives are set to drive Africa’s progress inspiring innovators, professionals and stakeholders to contribute to the tech empowered future.