General Electric, the world’s premier Digital Industrial Company, recently joined a delegation to Silicon Valley led by Ghana’s Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who is currently spearheading the country’s digital transformation project. The VP’s focus with this project is to accelerate the digitization of the Ghanaian economy and move Ghana beyond aid dependence.
The delegation aimed to explore the possibilities of developing strategic insight and partnerships with leading technology companies in the Silicon Valley area such as GE and others like Google and IBM, both of whom were also represented on the trip.
The VP and his team took a tour of GE Digital’s San Ramon Facility where the delegation spent over four hours. They received an overview of GE’s products in power, oil & gas and Predix (GE’s cloud based platform that aids data management and predictive analysis of industrial assets and processes). The visitors also experienced an augmented / virtual reality Predix pilot app that was demonstrated by recent graduates of GE’s Digital Technology Leadership Program.
Speaking on the event, Sulemana Abubakar, Chief Information Officer of GE Africa, who was amongst the visiting delegation said: “We are proud to have been amongst the technology giants who hosted the Vice President of Ghana and his team in Silicon Valley.” “GE is committed to the sustainable development of Africa and our Digital business provides solutions that optimize operations to improve asset performance while keeping costs down. This is what Africa needs and Ghana is in the right direction with the government’s digital transformation program” he added.
Ghana is currently reviewing several regulations governing the information communication technology sector to free up the innovative talent and capabilities of already existing and start-up companies. This aims to make it easier to enter and invest in the sector and encourage ICT uptake.
“We are trying to build a new, efficient Ghana. The world is continually evolving, and this evolution is led by cutting edge technology. We know there are many talented young men and women in the ICT space, and government is looking at ways to make innovating and actualizing promising ideas easier,” said Dr. Bawumia.
GE has been working in Ghana for several years to support economic growth through infrastructure development especially in the power, healthcare and transport sectors. One of the company’s innovative power projects is the Atuabo Waste Gas to Power; a flagship project in Sub-Saharan Africa using waste flare gas as a fuel source. The company is currently in discussions with the government of Ghana on opportunities for collaboration to drive the country’s digital transformation initiative. Powered by Predix, GE Digital creates software to design, build, operate, and manage the entire asset lifecycle—enabling industrial businesses globally, Ghana inclusive, to operate faster, smarter and more efficiently.