By Morkporkpor Anku
Accra, Nov. 24, GNA - Dr. Liang Hua, Chairman of the Board of Huawei, says digital infrastructure and connectivity can bring villagers into the digital fold, making lives better while driving sustainable socio-economic development.
He said there was the need to build a stronger computing infrastructure to speed up digital and intelligent transformation across industries and integrate the development of the digital and real economies.
Dr Laing was speaking at Huawei’s 3rd Edition of its Corporate Sustainability Development (CSD) Forum at Dongguan, China on the theme: “Thrive Together with Tech: Realizing Sustainable Development.”
It is to showcase the best sustainable development projects selected from Asia, Europe, America, and Africa.
The Forum, in partnership with international organizations, government, think tanks, career and global industry stakeholders, sought to demonstrate environmental and business value, by explaining how the innovative digital applications of Huawei and its partners enable sustainable development in remote areas.
He said computing power had become a new source of productivity in the digital economy and it was also a driving force behind tech advancement, industry digitalization, and socio-economic development.
The Board Chairman said according to the 2021–2022 Global Computing Power Index Assessment, one point of growth in the computing index translated to a 3.5 per cent rise in the size of the digital economy and a 1.8 per cent growth in national GDP.
“Investment in computing infrastructure will also inject fresh vitality into all industries while improving productivity and creating new social value,” he added.
He said Huawei was delving deep into the computing field and they were working hard to build a new generation of foundational software and hardware platforms and cultivate a robust computing ecosystem around our Kunpeng and Ascend processors.
Our goal is to provide the world with a more diverse range of computing power, using Kunpeng for general-purpose computing and Ascend for AI computing.
He said through open hardware, open-source software, and partner enablement, “we are working to strengthen computing power and make it a new driver of digital productivity, giving all industries a boost on their digital transformation journey.”
He said the Kunpeng Software and Hardware Platform was already being used to provide integrated and efficient computing power for the national medical insurance system in China.
Madam Doreen Bogdan-Martin, the Secretary-General of ITU, said there was no question more urgent right now, because only 15 per cent of the targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals were on track to be achieved by 2030.
She said this was because digital technologies could accelerate progress on 70 per cent of these targets, if harnessed responsibly.
She said to meet this challenge and opportunity, ITU focused its efforts on two key areas of action, universal connectivity, and sustainable digital transformation.
She commended Huawei for its contributions to the work in radiocommunications, standardization, and development and for its commitment to ITU’s mission.
“We see it, for example, in the strong pledges that
Huawei made under our Partner2Connect Digital Coalition, be it to deliver connectivity to over 120 million people in remote areas in 80 countries by 2025, or to provide training opportunities for thousands of ICT professionals in Cambodia – our first Partner2Connectcountry,” she added.
Mr Zhou Jun, President of ICT Marketing at Huawei, said digital technologies were rapidly reshaping the world, bringing about tremendous increases in efficiency and productivity across industries and across society.
However, while we are witnessing the acceleration of the global digitalization process, we are also seeing the digital divide further widening.
He said at the same time, “the earth on which we depend is becoming more and more overwhelmed.
Millions of species are threatened with extinction and the earth’s vitality is declining.”
“Over the past four years, we have joined hands with global partners to bridge the digital divide and promote sustainable development around four areas: equitable and quality education, protecting the fragile environment, promoting health and well-being, and promoting balanced development,” he added.
He said in addition to promoting fair and high-quality education, “we have also reduced the cost and difficulty of deploying connectivity solutions in remote areas through continuous technological innovation.”
For example, in Ghana, the RuralStar rural network project has provided voice and data access services for 3.5 million people in 172 rural areas.
GNA