Whale Cloud, Alibaba partner with Ghana on smart city initiative

Whale Cloud, formerly known as ZTEsoft, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Republic of Ghana on innovative city development at the headquarters of Alibaba Group.

Whale Cloud international CEO Ben Zhou and Republic of Ghana Minister for Communications Ursula Owusu Ekuful signed the MoU on behalf of each party.

This agreement will reinforce mutual cooperation and fuel innovation and smart city development in Ghana, applying the cutting-edge technologies and solutions developed by Whale Cloud and Alibaba Cloud.

Accra, the capital and largest city of Ghana, is undergoing rapid urbanisation, causing challenges for city administrators and inconvenience for citizens.

Under the MoU, Whale Cloud will form a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Communications of the Republic of Ghana and deliver its Innovative City solutions to resolve these challenges.

Using cloud architecture, Internet of Things (IoT), big data and artificial intelligence technology jointly developed by Whale Cloud and Alibaba Cloud, the Innovative City solutions will help launch rich industrial applications quickly on the platform of a unified operation centre, including e-Government, ET City Brain, Mobile Payment and a Unified Media Centre, which can help the government solve urban governance issues with the support of machine learning and AI algorithms, improve efficiency of governance and lower the costs of government operations, in order to transform Accra into an innovative and digitalised city.

Whale Cloud and Alibaba Cloud will also assist in transforming the eCommerce landscape and flourishing the eCommerce business development in Ghana.

Ekuful says, "Building connected and tech-driven urban areas is key to Ghana's rapid urbanisation.

"We look forward to working with Whale Cloud and Alibaba Cloud to utilise ICT innovations to improve the quality of life of citizens and promote efficiency, transparency, expedite the provision of services to citizens while reducing the opportunities for corruption.

Zhou says, "We're pleased to partner with the Ministry of Communications of the Republic of Ghana and leverage our expertise and solutions to make Accra an innovative city. We will help Ghana lead the way in digital economy and accelerate its journey towards sustainable prosperity.