The world has witnessed major advancements in emerging technologies – Ursula Owusu-Ekuful

Ghana has partnered with the International Communications Union ( ITU) in hosting the 14th Kaleidoscope Conference in Accra.

The Kaleidoscope 2022 on the theme “Extended Reality-How to Boost Quality of Experience and Interoperability,” is the 14th in a series of peer-reviewed academic conferences organized by ITU.

Speaking at the programme, Communications and Digitalisation Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, said, the world has seen significant improvements in cutting-edge technology in the fields of virtual, augmented, and mixed realities.

“The world has witnessed major advancements in emerging technologies in the Virtual, Augmented and Mixed realities and with growing use in business and also the more developmental areas of science, health and education. We all are aware of and agree on the enormous potential impact of XR on the global economy. A recent PwC report finds that VR and AR have prospects to deliver a $1.5 trillion boost to the global economy by 2030.”

She added that in highly developed cultures, immersive technologies are still a niche and not as widely used as they could be.

“For the most disconnected who incidentally may have the greatest need of these new technologies, it still is a distant dream. As Kaleidoscope this year turns attention to improving the quality of experience for extended realities, we must also remember that there exist challenges that threaten to leave some 3.7 billion people behind and unconnected. These barriers, including a lack of awareness, the need for advanced capabilities (skills and capacity development), limited access (XR hardware, software) and affordability are hurdles on our path to harnessing the full potential of extended realities, particularly in less-privileged societies.”

In his opening remarks, Dr. Collins Yeboah-Afari, Director-General of GI-KACE, noted that data on Extended Reality (XR) had revealed that more than half of Africa’s population did not have access to a completely digital experience. This, in his opinion, is one of the causes for which the Ghanaian government, through its many Ministries and implementing organizations, is a strong supporter of the Digitalization Agenda.

The importance of the metaverse community was emphasized by Mr. Chaesub Lee, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. The metaverse community is an online virtual reality platform that enables users to connect through avatars.

Mr. Chaesub announced that Kyebi was the Ghanaian ITU Smart Sustainable City at the occasion.

An innovative city that makes use of information and communication technologies as well as other methods to enhance the quality of life is referred to as a smart sustainable city.

The Kaleidoscope 2022 brings together a wide range of views from universities, industry, and research institutions.

The Kaleidoscope conferences aim to identify emerging developments in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and areas in need of international standards to aid the sustainable development of the interconnected world.