3rd Accra Technology Salon to Discuss the Prospect of Games for Ghana's Growth

The 3^rd instalment of Penplusbytes’ Technology Salon series will take place at the New Media Hub, Osu, Ako-Adjei, Accra on Tuesday, May 26^th and will bring together Ghana’s Game community, technology experts, development thinkers, bloggers and other stakeholders; providing a platform for frank participation with ideas and opinions on the prospects of Games in accelerating Ghana’s development.

The development of games, a two trillion dollar global industry, is currently experiencing rapid growth in Ghana due to the popularity of mobile phones and climbing Internet usage rates. In fact, African game developers are increasing their share of this demand by developing culturally relevant games that speak directly to local markets.

“Can ‘Serious’ Games Enhance Ghana’s Growth?” While games are often considered frivolous entertainment, evidence shows that games can effectively improve cognition, problem solving, and spatial skills development, with a particular benefit for science, engineering, and mathematics education. "Serious" games can also help communities explore different development scenarios to solve critical problems in society.

The 2-hour, round table session will among many other key issues, explore the Gaming concept in Ghana; proffering answers to questions relating to what kinds of games would excite Ghanaians and improve society, who would play such games and what the value of such games would be by way of learning opportunity. The day will also explore ways on how to incentivize "good" games and improve others while forecasting the future of gaming in Ghana.

Dorcas Okyere, Projects Coordinator at the New Media Hub, said, “The idea of Games and what connotations it has on Ghana’s development came about by the fact that although video game development in Africa has been around for many years, they are rarely perceived as solution to pressing issues even though many do portray potentials to educate players on serious issues like the environment and women’s rights for instance.” This, she added, is Penplusbytes attempt to understand our game sector and what development benefits can be realized from it if given the needed attention.

Leading the discussions on Africa’s buzzing technology scene and how it can support game development in Ghana are Eyram Tawia, CEO/Co-founder Leti Arts; Aaron Boateng, iSpace and founder of Playbox and Setriakor Kobla Nyomi, African Leadership Group of companies and Oware3D

Please RSVP now to join them and your technology and development peers for Technology Salon Accra. We'll have hot coffee, breakfast, and cool games to play for a morning rush. However, seating is limited to 35 people, so RSVP now or you'll be on the wait list!

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Penplusbytes is a not-for-profit organization that seeks to empower the media through the use of Information and Communications Technology to advance journalism in the coverage of governance and accountability, new media and innovations, and mining, oil and gas.