General News of Friday, 1 August 2008

Source: Emily Aggrey, IDG News Service

Ghana to Benefit From Africa's Largest Technology Park

The nonprofit group Life for Africa will establish the continent's largest technology park in Ghana.

Stakeholders in the technology industry from around the world met at a conference in Accra, "Africa NOW: Building Technology for the Future Generations," from July 14 to 18 to design a plan for the park, which will be situated near the Tema seaport and free zone enclave.

The project, spearheaded by Life for Africa Founder Dr. Kingsley Fletcher, aims to integrate technology into the development process of Ghana and other countries in the West African sub-region.

Life for Africa recognizes the importance of technology as a major contributor to globalization and is ready to contribute to ensure that Ghana and the West African subregion are not left out, said Dr. Sandra Johnson, vice president of Life for Africa and a senior technical staff member at IBM.

The long term objective of the park is to improve the standard of living in Ghana and West Africa as a whole.

Several other African countries, including Kenya, have initiated plans for technology parks in order to encourage the application of technology in business development and industry.