Director of Consultancy at The Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (GI-KACE), Dr Patrick Ofei, has stated that the use of open-source software and AI is growing exponentially, especially among governments and companies.
Speaking at the Software Freedom Day event organised at the Centre on September 17 under the theme ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Open Source’, Dr Ofei stated that GI-KACE’s motivation for championing Open Source technologies stems from the numerous benefits various countries are deriving from its use.
Over the years, GI-KACE has played key roles in promoting Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in Ghana and Africa. The Centre has also established a Free and Open Source Software research and resource centre known as the Ghana Centre for Free and Open Source Software (GCFOSS)
“Over the years, the Centre has played diverse roles in promoting FOSS in Ghana and Africa. As part of our continuing contribution to promoting FOSS for socio-economic development in Ghana, the Centre established the Free and Open Source Software research and resource centre known as the Ghana Centre for Free and Open Source Software (GCFOSS). For their first research project, GCFOSS developed an indigenous GNU/Linux Operating System known as Nyansapo Operating System (NOS). Its educational variant, EduNOS, which has been accepted as a UN Digital Public Good, comes with Science Technology Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) applications pre-installed and used in some schools in Ghana,” Dr Ofei said.
He added that “GI-KACE has developed Open Source solutions for MDA’s and several organisations. Some notable projects include the e-Asset Register for managing public assets, Enterprise Document Management system, e-Leave Management System, and E-learning Systems, to mention a few.”
The event, organised by GI-KACE in collaboration with the Linux Accra User Group, attracted several Open Source enthusiasts from Ghana and beyond to network and learned new trends. The event also attracted renowned speakers like Audrey Mengue, Mantey Caleb, Sandy Agbottah, Joshua Opoku Agyemang, Cecil Senna Nutakor, Michael Tetteh Quaynor and Clinton Anani, among others.