(Ecofin Agency) - In June 2018, Google announced the opening of an Artifical Intelligence (AI) research center in Accra, Ghana. On April 11, 2019, this IT infrastructure was officially inaugurated.

Via this center, the American tech giant wants to collaborate with local universities and research centers, work with policymakers on future use of the AI in the health, agriculture and education sectors in Africa.

Moustapha Cissé (photo), head of the new center, estimates that “Africa has many challenges where the use of AI could be beneficial, sometimes even more than in other places, (…) we expect to through collaborations with different institutions working on local challenges, have an impact on our field by applying the technology to agriculture, to health and to other areas where it can be also.” Currently, the center has ten researchers who came from different parts of the world. It also wants to recruit new researchers.

The AI center is part of Google’s strategy to boost investments in Africa, announced by Google CEO Sundar Pichai in 2017.  This strategy is aimed at definitely positioning Google in a continent that is presented as the future largest IT market in the world. The competition is gradually growing in this market.