The Embassy of Israel in collaboration with GIZ Ghana and other stakeholders hosted the second edition of the Ghana Digital Innovation Week.
The 2022 edition of the Ghana Digital Innovation Week was organized under the theme, “Glocalizing Ghana’s Digital & Innovation Ecosystem: Opportunities for Economic Development.”
This is part of the embassy’s efforts to support the growth of the innovation ecosystem industry in Ghana.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, H. E. Shlomit Sufar expressed that “the Embassy of Israel is excited to continue our collaboration with the Office of the Vice President, the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization, GIZ, the Digital Transformation Centre, MakeIT Africa and other partners for inclusive growth.”
She added that “we are happy to contribute and share the Israeli experience relevant to growing the innovation ecosystem in Ghana.”
Ambassador Sufa used the occasion to charge participants to join forces in igniting, co-creating, developing and transforming Ghana’s Digital economy for a better and sustainable future.
The Ghana Digital Innovation Week (GDIW) is a nationwide series of events, showcasing and celebrating milestones in Ghana’s Digital Innovation Ecosystem. GDIW provides a platform for various actors to learn, share ideas and create connections to enhance the progress of the landscape.
The journey for the Ghana Digital Innovation Week begun in 2020 with a trilateral cooperation between the German Cooperation for Development (GIZ), MakeIT in Africa, MASHAV (Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation) and the Government of Ghana. This trilateral Cooperation focused on Innovation for Development during which actors in Ghana’s innovation space were exposed to the ecosystems of Israel and Germany. In this project, we were able to organize several workshops that focused on creating a stronger and efficient innovation ecosystem in Ghana. In 2021, MASHAV organized a study tour in Israel where participating stakeholders were exposed to Israel’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.
As part of the embassy’s participation in the GDIW22, Israel’s Agency for International Development, MASHAV organized two workshops in support of the innovation ecosystem in Ghana. In collaboration with MakeLab Israel, the embassy organized a workshop to discuss “Using, Misusing and Abusing IOT.” The embassy also collaborated with Pears Program for Global Innovation to organize a workshop on “Product Market Fit: Learnings from Israeli Agri Technologies for startups in the Agritech space in Ghana.