A Tamale-based entrepreneurship and innovation organisation has launched what is positioned as the first dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) research and innovation hub in northern Ghana, responding directly to the growing concentration of AI development in the southern part of the country and the widening technology gap it is creating.
HOPin Academy, which has trained over 10,000 young people in digital and entrepreneurial skills since its founding in 2013, launched the Northern Ghana AI Lab at an event in Tamale that brought together representatives from academia, civil society, technology firms, development partners and traditional authorities.
The initiative comes at a time when AI development and adoption in Ghana remains concentrated in the south, widening the digital divide as Northern Ghana continues to face limited infrastructure, skills gaps and reduced innovation capacity. The lab is designed to serve as a research and collaboration hub bringing together academia, industry, government and civil society to conduct foundational and applied AI research tailored specifically to the region’s development priorities, including healthcare delivery, agricultural productivity, education access, job creation and economic inclusion.
MacCarthy Mac-Gbathy, Co-founder of HOPin Academy, said the lab reflects a deliberate effort to ensure northern communities are not passive recipients of AI technology but active participants in shaping it. “This lab will give students, early-career researchers and innovators the skills and resources to develop inclusive and sustainable AI solutions that respond to their socio-economic challenges,” he said.
Winnie Dzidonu, Senior Manager for Digital Channels and Product Innovation at MTN Ghana, urged the lab’s leadership to keep equity at the centre of its work. “AI should not deepen existing social and regional inequalities. Ghana’s AI future should reflect resilience, innovation and inclusion,” she said.
Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko Amidu, Board Chair of HOPin Academy and Executive Director of the STAR-Ghana Foundation, said the lab would ensure that AI solutions developed for northern communities are designed with input from those communities, rather than adapted from models built elsewhere.
HOPin Academy, founded as a youth-led digital skills initiative, has supported more than 500 start-ups and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) over its 13 years of operation. Mac-Gbathy said the organisation intends to grow into a technology and business innovation hub with a footprint across three regions in Northern Ghana.
