Technological Innovation Driving Sustainable Entrepreneurial Growth in Developing Nations

Nana Yaw Asabere is currently an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department, and Director of Research, Innovation, Publication, and Technology Transfer (DRIPTT), in Accra Technical University (ATU), Ghana. He received his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) Degree in Computer Science (CS) from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana in 2005 and his Master of Science (M.Sc.) Degree in ICT from Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark in 2010. Furthermore, through his academic and professional accomplishments, he was awarded a Full Scholarship by the Chinese Government through the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) in May, 2011 to pursue his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Degree in Computer Science. Consequently, he pursued his Ph.D. from September, 2011 at the School of Software, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China, and successfully completed it in September, 2014 under the supervision of Prof. Feng Xia (Ph.D.). During his Ph.D., he developed and evaluated five (5) different algorithms (pseudocodes) to solve three (3) major scientific problems related to Socially-Aware Recommendations in Smart Conferences. Prof. Asabere has approximately seventeen (17) years of teaching (graduate and undergraduate levels) and research experience as well as research project supervision experience with five (5) years of academic leadership at the tertiary level of education in Ghana. In ATU, he has held positions such as Coordinator/Head of Department for Non-Tertiary and Professional Programmes as well as the Examinations Officer in the Computer Science Department and Head of Computer Science Department. Currently, he is a member of the current Academic Board. Additionally, he is a member of the Faculty of Applied Sciences Board as well as a sub-committee of the Faculty Board in ATU (Appointments and Promotions Review Committee). As Head of Computer Science Department (November, 2018 – December, 2020), he has successfully spearheaded the accreditation and reaccreditation of undergraduate computer science programmes and is currently facilitating the introduction of new programmes in his Department. He has also facilitated the improvement of ICT facilities, computing resources, and his Departmental Staff in ATU. Prof. Asabere has several publications in International Journals and Conference Proceedings such as IEEE/ACM Transactions /Journals/Conferences (Web of Science: SCI, Scopus and EI Indexed). Currently, he has a total of 746 research article citations in Google Scholar (h-index = 15, i10 index = 16) and 359 citations in Scopus (h-index = 11). In Research Gate, he currently has an 18.54 RG Score (Impact Points), 710 citations and h-index = 15. Additionally, his h-index is 11 in his Web of Science and Scopus Researcher Profiles. His current teaching and technological research interests include Mobile and Social Recommender Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Big Data, ICT in Education (e-learning and m-learning), and Software Engineering. He received the Best Paper Award in the10th IEEE International Conference on Ubiquitous Intelligence and Computing (2013) which constituted part of his Ph.D. research and thesis. Additionally, he also received the Best Paper Award in the 7th IEEE International Conference on Adaptive Science & Technology (2018). Furthermore, he is a Reviewer as well as an Editor of several Computer Science Journals and Conference Proceedings. Among these include IEEE Transactions/Systems Journal, Proceedings of WWW International Conference (ACM), ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications and Applications, and Frontiers in Big Data. He has been a Technical Program Committee (TPC) Member of the All Workshops on Big Scholarly Data since its inception. He is currently a member of IEEE, IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (CIS), and the Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana (IIPGh). Prof. Asabere currently leads the Digital Capacity (DigiCAP) Training Programme in ATU, which financially mobilized €200,000 funded by AFOS Foundation for Entrepreneurial Development Cooperation. Prof. Asabere also consults/has consulted internationally for the United Nations (UN) Global Pulse (Report on AI Ecosystem Mapping in Ghana) and locally for the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), and Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), Ghana. Amevi Acakpovi is a Professor in the Electrical/Electronic Engineering, the Pro Vice-Chancellor and currently Acting Vice-Chancellor of Accra Technical University. He is also a Fellow Professional Engineer from the Institution of Engineering and Technology-Ghana and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer and Electrical Engineering from the Lokossa Institute of Technology (Republic of Benin) in 2006 and a Certificate of Designer Engineer (Eq. MSc.) in Electrical Engineering from the Abomey-Calavi University (Republic of Benin) in 2009 and a PhD degree in Energy Systems Engineering from the Open University Malaysia in 2017. Prof Acakpovi is originally from the field of Electrical, Electronic and Energy Systems Engineering. His areas of research include Hybrid Energy Systems, Mini and Microgrid Optimization, Smart Grid Modelling and Optimization, Solar and Wind Energy Modelling and Optimization, Artificial Intelligence in Energy Systems and Recommender Systems. Prof. Acakpovi was a recipient of many awards and laurels including recently the award of the decade researcher at the Applied Research Conference in Africa (ARCA) in August 2021 and the Stairs Award of Distinguished Professor in Electrical Engineering, Pune, India in December, 2021. He also won the “Excellence in Research & Development Leadership” award by the SOLARQUARTER GRANDMASTERS AWARDS in September 2022. He has also served a number of national and international committees including chairing of the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) committee (TC77), of the African Electrotechnical Standardization Commission (AFSEC) under the African Union (AU).