Report on a one-day visit to Mihailo Pupin Institute in Belgrade on Friday, 13 June, 2008
As part of his efforts to promote bilateral and economic relations with Serbia as well as to attract investment to Ghana, His Excellency Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe accepted an invitation by the Minister of Energy of Serbia, Mr. Aleksander Popovic, to pay a working-day’s visit to Mihailo Pupin Institute in Belgrade on Friday, 13 June, 2009.
The purpose of the visit was to acquaint himself with the operations of Serbia’s leading ICT research and development Institution and the largest and oldest ICT institute in Southern Europe, which is widely recognised for its achievements in the fields of electronics, automation, computer science, telecommunications, information systems and software engineering.
His Excellency was welcomed to the premises of the Institute by the Serbian Minister of Energy, Mr. Aleksander Popovic and Prof. Dr. Vladan Batanovic, Chief Executive Officer and Mr. Jovan Kon, Deputy Chief Executive Officer.
Welcoming H.E Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, Prof Dr. Vladan Batanovic expressed his pleasure at His Excellency’s visit since, according to him, it presented the institute with the opportunity of establishing bilateral relations with Ghanaian institutions. Prof Dr. Batanovic proceeded to give the history of the Institute and detailed description of its operations. The Institute, he said, was established 62 years ago and has been located at its present premises for 30 years. He disclosed that the Institute got actively involved in digital computers in 1960 and by the nineteen eighties had got involved in industrial computers, flight stimulators, water control systems, and traffic control systems (hardware and software).
The institute, he continued, overhauled the electronic connection system of the Belgrade Airport Terminal 2 and had worked on that of six other airports in Serbia and added that, between 2004 and 2006 the Institute was in charge of the Electric Power System of Serbia.
The Institute Mihailo Pupin he said, has links and cooperation with distinguished Centers of excellence in Europe and worldwide including:
- Fraunhofer FIRST, Berlin, Germany, which develops innovative technologies for the analysis, realization, evaluation and simulation of complex software with a high IT content used in traffic, medicine, environmental protection and the media.
- Areva/Alstom, France, is a worldwide expert in the energy field, with a strong industrial presence in over 40 countries (70,000 employees). The group provides its clients with technological solutions for nuclear energy production and electricity transmission and distribution.
- Motorola Application Partner Program: The Institute Mihailo Pupin has joined Motorola Application Partner Program through cooperation with the most active Motorola’s authorized distributors of Professional Radio series (two-way UHF/VHF radios) in Eastern Europe and Russia.
- BASF AG, Germany: BASF offers its customers a range of high-performance products, including chemicals, plastics, coatings systems, dispersions, agricultural products, fine chemicals as well as crude oil and natural gas.
The Institute, he continued, had also been involved in cooperative ventures in some North African countries i.e. in Morocco, Algeria etc and recently with DR. Congo.
He further indicated that the Institute provides a wide range of products and services including:
- Process Control Program – SCADA systems (hardware and software) optimized for large and geographically distributed utility systems, control and monitoring solutions for process industries.
- Management Information Program: Investment advisory tools and decision support systems, information retrieval systems, versatile ERP solutions
- Traffic Management Program: Toll Systems for Motorways, City Traffic Management, GPS Automatic vehicle Location.
- Security Program – Crypto devices, solutions for securing telecommunication links over telephony and radio networks.
- Telecommunications Program: Power Line Carrier equipment, communication solution for safe and efficient operation of high-voltage power networks.
- Frequency Control Products: Industry-standard and custom frequency control products, including Quartz Crystal Units, Crystal Oscillators, Crystal Filters, and Magnetic materials.
After H.E Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe had watched a brief video presentation on the activities of the Institute, the Serbian Energy Minister, Mr. Aleksander Popovic, recounted the long-term good and friendly relations between Serbia and Ghana and indicated that the Mihailo Pupin Institute is a State owned institution that receives little support from the Serbian government, however it is self sufficient. He said further that the Mihailo Pupin Institute had carried out some major overhauling and modernization of the electronic systems and radars of the Serbian army which involved the replacement of only its software and hardware thereby costing ten times lower than would have cost them if an outside company had undertaken the refurbishing job.
In the same vein, he indicated, the Institute could work with Embassies and countries and companies/institutions in the developing countries who he said are potential allies and which share common aspirations, to solve their problems. He continued that there is the need to rely on each other as developing countries and share their efforts and know-how to avoid paying too much elsewhere for the same products and services. In this wise, he noted, the Institute would like to work with Ghana Scientific Institutions to help them develop as well as transfer the Institute’s technology to them in the field of Water Supply treatment, Traffic Control Systems and the manufacture of Solar Energy Systems.
In his response H.E. Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe expressed his gratitude for the invitation to visit the Institute in view of the fact that the notice was too short and indicated that he accepted the invitation in view of the importance he attached to the visit.
He also recounted the past Serbian /Ghana relations and the role Ghana had played in the international world, Vis a Vis, the United Nations with Messieurs Alex Quaison Sackey and Kofi Annan being former top UN officials.
He also stressed on the fact that Ghana had been a staunch supporter of Serbia in her dark days and is still maintaining her Mission in Serbia despite the fact that Serbia has closed down her Mission in Ghana for economic reasons.
He however expressed the hope that, with his many meetings with top officials in Serbia, including the Serbian Prime Minister Dr. Kostunica and President Boris Tadic, there has been the assurance that Serbia would soon reopen her Mission in Accra.
He continued that, Ghana would be prepared to cooperate with the Institute on Energy, especially Solar Energy, Traffic light Systems and Water Treatment systems since Ghana is currently facing problems in these sectors.
He also informed the meeting of the discovery of oil in Ghana and hoped that the Institute would contribute to its production in capacities connected with their field.
He urged the Institute to start thinking of establishing the Pupin type of Institute in Ghana to serve the West African sub region with Ghana as its base.
TOUR OF THE INSTITUTE
After the preliminary discussions, His Excellency was accompanied by the Minister of Energy, Mr. Aleksander Popovic, Prof Dr. Vladan Batanovic and Mr. Jovan Kon respectively on a tour of the Institute. After inspecting some of its offices, H. E. Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe was led to the Workshop where Digital Control Systems were being assembled.
After having been led through some processes by the Supervisor Engineer Nebojsa Panjevac, His Excellency inspected a truckload of Digital Control Systems ready for export to Montenegro. From there His Excellency was led to inspect a model of a Pay Toll Collection system on the premises after which he was presented with CDs and materials on the Institute.
Institute Mihailo Pupin has a long-term orientation in cross-border cooperation with companies and institutions, whether it is a case of involvement in a joint research or application-orientated development project, purely academic collaboration, or providing services from their service portfolio.
Ghana would stand to gain if cooperation is established with the Institute since the Institute is always positively prepared to exchange know-how and achievements, and join forces with companies with similar fields of interest in order to deliver better results and approach a broader market.
