Synapse - Africa’s 4IR Trade & Innovation Magazine - 2nd Quarter 2022 Issue 16

2nd QUARTER 2022 | ISSUE 16

SYNAPSE Africa’s 4IR Trade & Innovation Magazine

TALKING THE LANGUAGE OF AI IN AFRICA LANAFRICA

creates centralised language hub

GOOGLE adds 10 African languages

AI LAWYER helps Kenyans gain access to justice

BONANG.AI

Fights Crime in the City

AI EXPO AFRICA 2022

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SANDTON CONVENTION CENTRE JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

Business

Connecting

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ort pp Su

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www.aiexpoafrica.com

Contents SYNAPSE | ISSUE 16 | 2nd QUARTER 2022

p21 CSIR signs an MoU with Arm

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Nvidia Omniverse Ecosystem Expands 10x, Amid New Features and Services for Developers, Enterprises and Creators

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Launch of LanAfrica - Connecting all African language resources, one record at a time

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Google adds 10 African languages to Google Translate

10 VoxCroft Celebrates Africa’s Language Diversity 12 Bonang.ai Fights Crime in the City

33 Zindi raises US $1 million in a seed round to expand its network of data scientists 34 Arm Launches Cortex Lab in South Africa 36 Microsoft announces new initiatives to support 10,000 African start-ups 38 AICE: Using AI to Bolster Productivity & Economic Growth 39 Microsoft launches Research Institute in Nairobi

13 Artificial Intelligence: How Tanzania is embracing technology 14 2021 Show Report: People Worth Watching…

p26 Congo Brazzaville launches Artificial Intelligence research centre

16 2022 Show Planning: Join Us in Johannesburg in 2022 18 2022 Show Planning: AI Expo Africa Show Stats 19 2022 Show Planning: Testimonials & Vendors 21 CSIR signs an MoU with Arm 24 State of AI in Africa 2022 Report

p33 Zindi raises $1m seed investment

25 AI Lawyer helps Kenyans gain access to justice quicker 26 Congo Brazzaville launches Artificial Intelligence research centre

p30 Project Jetson - Predicting movements of displaced people in Somalia using ML

27 AI and the importance of our people 28 Central African Republic (CAR) 1st African country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender 30 Project Jetson – Predicting movements of displaced people in Somalia using ML 31 Will East Africa turn to AI for weather forecasts?

p39 Microsoft launches Research Institute in Nairobi

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Editor's Notes Darlington Akogo (Ghana)

Natasha Ochiel (Kenya) Co-Founder | CEO The AI Centre of Excellence natasha@aiceafrica.com

CEO, minoHealth AI / KaraAgro AI & Member of United Nations ITU & WHO Focus Group on AI For Health

darlingtonakogo

D

arlington Akogo is a global leader in Artificial Intelligence. He's the Founder and Director of Artificial Intelligence at GUDRA, and its subsidiaries; minoHealth; an AI Healthtech company, minoHealth AI Labs; an AI Healthcare, Biotech and Biomedical Research Lab, karaAgro AI; an AI-powered Plant & Pest Disease Detection and Precision Agriculture platform, Runmila AI Institute; an AI and Data Science training institute, and Gudra AI Studio; an organisation broadly exploring AI and Exponential Technologies applied various domains including Transportation, Sanitation and Energy.

natasha-ochiel

I

f data is the new oil, then Natasha is a veteran key to the fostering of its growth. She is a transformative and dynamic leader within the Data Science and Artificial Intelligence space who is well immersed across various industries. In that, she garnered a strong skill-set in data processes, business operations, start-up building and project management. In a bid to champion Artificial Intelligence in Africa, she co-founded the AI Centre of Excellence that aims to build sustainable value for AI in Africa by building capacity, building demand and building AI solutions through the Centre.

Johan Steyn (South Africa)

Dr Nick Bradshaw

AI & Automation thought leader. Lead Architect: Automation at PwC South Africa

Editor & CEO AI Media Group

nickbradshaw

johanosteyn

J

ohan Steyn is an Artificial Intelligence enthusiast and speaks globally at conferences on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Emerging Technologies.

2019 award winner Best AI & Robotics Management Consultant by Wealth & Finance magazine. He is a published author who regularly contributes articles on thought-leadership to well-known publications such as Business Day, the Sunday Times, and ITWeb. He is the Chair of the Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics with the IITPSA (Institute of Information Technology Professionals of South Africa). He works for PwC South Africa as Lead Architect: Automation.

Welcome to Edition 16

A

s the world unlocks from C19 its great to see the news flowing in about investments and new initiatives with respect to AI in Africa. This months edition is packed with some great developments with some interesting announcements around African language NLP from the likes of Google and the launch of Lanfrica. The launch of “The State of AI in Africa Report” is scheduled for 14th June which we are co-launching with the CSIR in Pretoria, South Africa and covers a pan-Africa analysis of the trends, countries, communities and companies driving the AI ecosystem in the region. We are also moving into the 4 month run up to AI Expo Africa so don’t forget to book your ticket or submit to speak. Dates for your diary are 18-20 September, Johannesburg, SA. Learn more at www.aiexpoafrica.com. It’s only May but it feels like the African AI ecosystem is gaining real momentum for a busy 2022 and we hope you enjoy this 16th Edition of Synapse Magazine.

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The city is home to four universities and various research institutes and its knowledge and information industry is well-developed. Tshwane has a high literacy rate, a large concentration of financial and business services in the region, support of educational institutions and communication infrastructure, including broadband capacity.

Why Tshwane?

• Tshwane is the knowledge centre of South Africa. The City has a high concentration of academic, medical, social science,

technology and scientific institutions which produces 90% of medical, science and technology research in the country and 60% of the country’s overall research output. The city has a student population of 60000 and high levels of literacy, giving investors access to a skilled workforce and continuous learning.

• Your investment is safe with us, we are governed by investment protection legislation, The Protection of Investment Act 22 of

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• There are no restrictions on foreign investors to acquire companies or businesses in South Africa.

• Tshwane has a well-developed infrastructure and road network and is centrally situated on the national road network with direct

links to Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia along the east-west N4 route, and with Zimbabwe along the south-north N1 route.

For more information Contact Us 012 358 9999 www.tshwane.gov.za www.teda.org.za www.facebook.com/CityOfTshwane

Block B, 2nd Floor Tshwane House 320 Madiba Street Pretoria 0002

PO Box 440 Pretoria 0001

DEVELOP WITH NVIDIA OMNIVERSE Start building custom tools and applications today.

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Watch this technical session here Explore developer resources, learn more SYNAPSE | 2ND QUARTER 2022

VENDOR INSIGHT

NVIDIA Omniverse Ecosystem Expands 10x, Amid New Features and Services for Developers, Enterprises and Creators When it comes to creating and connecting virtual worlds, over 150,000 individuals have downloaded NVIDIA Omniverse to make huge leaps in transforming 3D design workflows and achieve new heights of real-time, physically accurate simulations.

At GTC 2022 in March, NVIDIA announced new releases and updates for Omniverse — including the latest Omniverse Connectors and libraries — expanding the platform’s ecosystem by 10x, and making Omniverse even more accessible to creators, developers, designers, engineers and researchers worldwide

Hydra Render Delegate Support: Users can integrate and toggle between their favorite Hydra delegate-supported renderers and the Omniverse RTX Renderer directly within Omniverse Apps. Now available in beta for Chaos V-Ray, coming soon for Maxon Redshift, OTOY Octane, Blender Cycles, and Autodesk Arnold.

More Omniverse Technologies and Features

Enhancing Content Creation With New Connections and Libraries

Omniverse Enterprise Features and Availability Broadens

The Omniverse ecosystem is expanding beyond design and content creation. In one year, Omniverse connections, ways to connect or integrate with the Omniverse platform, have grown 10x — with 82 connections through the extended Omniverse ecosystem. Some of the new features that were announced by NVIDIA include:

More updates are coming soon to Omniverse Enterprise, including the latest releases of Omniverse Kit 103, Omniverse Create and View 2022.1, Omniverse Farm, and DeepSearch.

DeepSearch: a new AI-based search service that lets users quickly search through massive, untagged 3D asset libraries using natural language or images.

DeepSearch is available for Omniverse Enterprise customers in early access.

Third-Party Connections for Adobe Substance 3D Material Extension and Painter Connector, Epic Games Unreal Engine Connector and Maxon Cinema 4D will enable live-sync workflows between third-party apps and Omniverse.

CAD Importers: These convert 26 common CAD formats to Universal Scene Description (USD) to better enable manufacturing and product design workflows within Omniverse.

Asset Library Integrations: TurboSquid

by Shutterstock, Sketchfab and Reallusion ActorCore assets are now directly available within Omniverse Apps asset browsers so users can simply search, drag and drop from close to 1 million Omniverse-ready 3D assets. New Omniverse-ready 3D assets, materials, textures, avatars and animations are also now available from A23D.

Omniverse Enterprise on NVIDIA LaunchPad is available across nine global regions.

NVIDIA LaunchPad gives design practitioners and project reviewers instant, free turnkey access to hands-on Omniverse Enterprise labs, helping them make quicker, more confident software and infrastructure decisions.

Raising the Bar on Industrial Digital Twin NVIDIA also offers NVIDIA OVX, a computing system architecture designed to power large-scale digital twins. NVIDIA OVX is built to operate complex simulations that will run within Omniverse, enabling designers, engineers and planners to create physically accurate digital twins and massive, true-to-reality simulation environments.

Developer Tools: Omniverse Code, an app that serves as an integrated development environment for developers and powers users to easily build their own Omniverse extensions, apps or microservices.

Omniverse Replicator: a framework for generating physically accurate 3D synthetic data to accelerate training and accuracy of perception networks — now available within Omniverse Code so developers can build their own domain-specific synthetic data engines.

OmniGraph, ActionGraph and AnimGraph: major new releases controlling behavior and animation.

Omniverse Avatar: a platform that uses AI and simulation technology to enable developers to build custom, intelligent, realistic avatars.

Omniverse XR App: a VR-optimized configuration of Omniverse View that enables users to experience their full-fidelity 3D scenes with full RTX ray tracing, at 1:1 scale, coming soon.

To learn more about NVIDIA Omniverse, watch the GTC 2022 keynote from Jensen Huang.

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New versions of Omniverse Kit, Create, View and Machinima.

LANGUAGE RESOURCE

LAUNCH OF LANAFRICA CONNECTING ALL AFRICAN LANGUAGE RESOURCES, ONE RECORD AT A TIME / Read original article here /

After winning the UNESCO #VivaTech2021 challenge, Chris Emezue and I, are happy to announce that Lanfrica is officially launched.

L

anfrica aims to mitigate the difficulty encountered in the discovery of African language resources by creating a centralized, language-first catalog. For instance, if you’re looking for resources (linguistic datasets or research papers) in a particular African language, Lanfrica will point you to the different sources on the web that have such datasets in the desired language. In the deficient case, we adopt a participatory approach by allowing you to contribute (with papers, datasets). Read more about the motivation and scope of Lanfrica in our About section.

This gives Lanfrica, a huge potential for better discoverability and representation of African languages on the web. Lanfrica is able to give useful statistics on the progress of African languages. As a simple illustration, from the language filter section, you get an immediate overview of the number of existing natural language processing (NLP) resources for each African language. Based on

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this, one can easily see that for South African languages, Afrikaans has 28 NLP resources, Swati has just 8 ….or that the Gbe cluster languages of Benin have far fewer NLP resources than some of the South-African languages. Such insight can lead to better allocation of funds, efforts, etc towards bringing the more underresearched languages forward in NLP – thereby fostering the equal progress of African languages.

Check out our website for many more updates coming up soon: https://lanfrica.com/about and follow us on LinkedIn Lanfrica and on Twitter “@lanfrica”

VENDOR INSIGHT

GOOGLE ADDS 10 AFRICAN LANGUAGES TO GOOGLE TRANSLATE / Read original article here /

Google Translate admits that "while this technology is impressive, it isn't perfect"

Global tech giant Google has added 24 new languages spoken by more than 300 million people to its Google Translate platform.

T

en of the new additions are in Africa, including Lingala, Twi and Tigrinya.

"For years, Google Translate has helped break down language barriers and connect communities all over the world," the USbased company said.

It added that it now wants to help those whose languages "aren't represented in most technology".

The new languages range from Bhojpuri, which is spoken by as many as 50 million people in northern India, Nepal and Fiji, to Dhivehi with its estimated 300,000 speakers in the Maldives.

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The move now brings to 133 the total number of languages available on Google Translate.

Faroe Islands take on Google Translate The languages that defy auto-translate The company says the new languages also represent a technical milestone, explaining that they use a machine learning model which learns to "translate into another language without ever seeing an example."

This can be useful for languages where large datasets of human translations, which can be used to train a computer, are not available.

But the company admits that the technology isn't perfect.

So will the translations be accurate?

Some polyglots have noted problems with the languages already available.

"For many supported languages, even the largest languages in Africa that we have supported - say like Yoruba, Igbo, the translation is not great. It will definitely get the idea across but often it will lose much of the subtlety of the language," Google

“ The company says the new

languages also represent a technical milestone, explaining that they use a machine learning model which learns to "translate into another language without ever seeing an example

”

Translate research scientist Isaac Caswell told the BBC. With the new languages, he said, it would be no different. But the people who helped in the research said it was a good place to start.

"In the end, we have to make the call. And my impression from other people I have talked to was that it was a very positive thing for them," Mr Caswell said.

In 2020, Google Translate added five new languages to the platform in what was then its first expansion in the past few years.

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VENDOR INSIGHT

VOXCROFT CELEBRATES AFRICA’S LANGUAGE DIVERSITY / Read original article here /

The international community celebrates World Mother Language Day on 21 February.

This day is an important reminder that one’s mother tongue is the first conduit for interpreting the world around us and shaping our identity. VoxCroft Analytics believes that technological innovation should not solely service the financial interests of large multinationals. We build machine-based solutions for low resource languages with a different goal in mind: to close the gap between decision-makers and local communities, in an effort to make Africa a safer and more prosperous continent.

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VENDOR INSIGHT

A

ccess. The key that opens doors to education, employment, invention, and innovation. Yet, lack of access to education and the information highway is one of the largest global challenges of the 21st century. Unequal access to knowledge restricts entry into the vibrant world of industry and technology to individuals and communities that have access to the best education, the right connections, and the necessary financial capital.

Barriers to knowledge, however, begin long before the classroom. Language is the very first portal to access the education and ideas that drive creativity. Unfortunately in Africa, secondary education mostly happens in English, French, and Portuguese – the languages of the continent’s former colonizers.

This leads to a ranking system that classifies languages into two categories: the informal language of the home, and the formal language of economic life. The message this gives mother tongue speakers is that their home language is inferior, to be used only in domestic contexts. In contrast, great effort is given to perfecting the official language used in educational and professional contexts. As a result, entire populations who are unable to develop fluency in the dominant language become excluded from public life, curtailing their participation in the formal economy and active citizenship.

The Internet explosion has further exacerbated the language divide. A 2021 study shows that English forms 60.4 percent of the 10 million most visited websites, even though only 16.2 percent of the world’s population speak it as a mother tongue.

Conversely, languages with only a million speakers are rarely visible on the Internet.

World Mother Language Day on 21 February seeks to restore, to some small degree, pride of place to the thousands of mother tongues spoken throughout the world. However, much more needs to be done to promote the use and public visibility of mother tongues, some of which are spoken by millions of people. The theme for this year’s commemoration is

“ There are 7,000 languages

spoken in the world today. Of these, 2,000 languages are in Africa

”

“Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities.”

There are already several information technology (IT) initiatives to make African language communities visible online and develop vocabularies for the fields of science and technology. Wolof speakers in Senegal have created a podcast that discusses IT developments, with the express objective of creating and using Wolof vocabulary to speak about new technologies. A South African collaborative project promotes the development of Natural Language Processing for African languages.

At VoxCroft Analytics, we are also deeply passionate about promoting African languages and building technologies to make them more accessible online. One such project is to build machine translation technology for low-resource languages.

Most language technologies require very large volumes of language data to build and train models. Typically, a low-resource language is a language for which there is little digital language data available. VoxCroft Analytics uses mother tongue speakers and the latest machine learning techniques to leverage relatively small language datasets to build machine translation models that can be used for a range of functions, including keyword detection in broadcast data, gisting of written text, automatic transcription, and machine translation.

The purpose of these low-resource language technologies is two-fold: They assist our data collection activities, which in turn equips our analysts to identify the various language communities contributing to online conversations and the dominant themes and trends in these conversations. These tools are used to detect misinformation campaigns and hate speech. Our analysts then contextualize these dynamics to help decision-makers make better choices for their organizations and the communities they serve.

These technologies also have the potential to enrich communities in which low-resource languages are spoken and written. VoxCroft also actively seeks opportunities for these technologies to become readily available to language communities, so that they can increasingly see their languages represented online. Creating a more equitable online environment reduces real and imagined differences among population groups and promotes

interaction which can, in turn, foster greater solidarity and unity.

VoxCroft Analytics has already built technological solutions to enhance multilingual learning for Ethiopia’s most widely-spoken languages. We have working machine translation models for Oromo and Tigrinya, and are currently working on identifying keywords in Amharic audio data.

We have also built a machine translation model for Uganda and are excited to expand these successes to other central and west African languages. Our team of data scientists interacts directly with expert speakers of these languages to ensure high standards of quality in the linguistic data and draw on the speakers’ insights about the syntax and semantics of their mother tongues, which are then encoded into the models.

With 2,000 mother tongues in Africa, there is much work to be done to preserve and promote the use of these languages through the creation of tools and technologies that can enhance speakers’ participation in the digital and online economy. If you are interested in joining us on this quest, get in touch with us to find out more.

“ VoxCroft Analytics uses

mother tongue speakers and the latest machine learning techniques to leverage relatively small language datasets to build machine translation models that can be used for a range of functions, including keyword detection in broadcast data, gisting of written text, automatic transcription, and machine translation

”

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NEW??????

PRODUCT

FIGHTS CRIME IN THE CITY / Read original article here /

A

ccording to Statistics South Africa, there were an estimated 88 000 incidences of theft of motor vehicles in 2019/20, affecting 0,5% of South African households. About 79% of households that experienced theft of motor vehicles reported the crime to the police, which is a 7,6% decrease compared to the previous year. An estimated 169 000 incidences of home robberies occurred, affecting 139 000 households in 2019/20. The FBI reports that $7.4 billion was lost to motor vehicle theft in 2020. The average dollar loss per theft was $9,166. In 2020, 810,400 vehicles were stolen, the highest annual number of vehicles stolen since 2008, when 959,059 vehicles were stolen.

There has never been a more urgent need for comprehensive security and surveillance solutions to augment our human resources.

Since we cannot be everywhere and see everything that's going on around us, we need tools to be our extra pair of eyes. Traditional security and surveillance systems function like additional sets of eyes, helping us keep watch over multiple locations simultaneously using remote cameras and centrally located CCTV monitors. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have transformed this concept into something much more robust, with software that can analyze what's happening on the screen and proactively alert authorities when something isn't quite right.

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We present the BONANG.ai Intelligent Security and Surveillance systems which are more complex than their predecessors because their tasks are more complex. BONANG. ai Smart City Platform is an End-To-End AI System designed to detect and track vehicles as well as pedestrians and to estimate a safety metric for an intersection.

Object tracking recognizes the same object across successive frames, giving the ability to estimate trajectories and speeds of the objects. The Platform also detects collisions and near misses. A real-time dashboard visualizes the intelligence extracted from the traffic intersection along with annotated video stream(s).This collected intelligence can be used to adjust traffic lights to optimize the traffic flow of the intersection, or to evaluate and enhance the safety of the intersection by allowing emergency services notifications, such as calls to the Police or Armed Response, to be triggered by collision detection or break ins, reducing emergency response times.

The demand for intelligent security and surveillance solutions is growing at a CAGR of 12-15% , fueled in large part by security concerns and government spending. These solutions differ from traditional surveillance systems in that digital technology now enables more complex applications and usage models. Whereas previous surveillance solutions fed video to a bank of screens, digital systems enable multi-channel streaming, real-time software-based analytics, event-triggered alerting, temporary site surveillance, and much more. Consider some of the many ways BONANG.ai solutions are being applied in our global society today:

1. Home and Commercial Property Surveillance: Providing security for public and private facilities continues to expand and now includes setting up site surveillance temporarily.

2. Vehicle Surveillance: Watching over the actions in and around vehicles and transportation systems, including police vehicles, emergency response equipment, cars, buses, planes and trains.

3. Intelligent Traffic Management: Proactively and re-actively responding to traffic-related events, devices such as highway on-ramp meters, toll collection systems, red-light traffic cameras and other intelligent traffic control devices are part of the growing usage model for BONANG.ai Smart City systems.

4. Business Intelligence: BONANG.ai systems can now intelligently gather and analyze business operational data as well as anonymous information about customer traffic patterns, demographics, and sales conversion rates.

REGIONAL NEWS

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: How Tanzania is embracing technology / Read original article here /

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s push towards technology is gaining momentum and has now gone a step further by investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) as evidenced by the recently launched laboratory in the capital, Dodoma.

The push aims to benefit the country in the areas of development of AI infrastructures, healthcare, digital economy and environmental conservation and agriculture, among others.

The three-year project is known as the multidisciplinary Artificial Intelligence for Development of Africa’s Anglophone research lab.

The laboratory will be co-hosted by the University of Dodoma (Udom) and the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST).

The Sh1.8-billion project is implemented through the Artificial Intelligence for Development in Africa under the funding of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

In an exclusive interview with The Citizen, the principal investigator of the project to establish the Artificial Intelligence for Development (AI4D) in Africa’s Anglophone Multidisciplinary Research Lab, Dr Ally Nyamawe, said the four were the country’s key priority areas. “We must pay special attention and a keen eye to the health sector that is facing numerous challenges especially after the outbreak of Covid-19,” he said.

He said good health translates into assured productivity at both the country and global levels.

The Udom don said AI infrastructures need to be developed in various parts of the country in order to reap the accompanying benefits.

According to him, AI will enable the country to realise its intention to build and benefit with the vibrant digital economy as well as transforming the nation’s manufacturing sector.

“This will be done by using AI to facilitate the promotion of the small scale enterprises to middle and large enterprises,” he said.

Furthermore, he said as the world embraces the fourth industrial revolution, Tanzania would not lag behind but keep abreast the global pace.

In environmental conservation and agriculture, Dr Nyamawe said AI aims at preventing disastrous interaction between humans and animals.

“Agriculture is another area touching the majority of Tanzanians as about 70 percent engage in agriculture. AI will enable the country increase production and access the global market,” he said.

According to him, the project has gathered experience from different development countries where AI has enabled them to produce driverless cars and carry disease diagnosis and treatment.

Similarly, he said agriculture that has always been referred to as the country’s backbone requires better weather forecasts something that will significantly improve through the introduction and fully use of technology.

He said the key mandates of the launched laboratory would hinge on research, capacity building through training experts and innovation that will ultimately provide solutions to challenges facing different sectors in the country.

“For us to achieve this ambitious goal, it was imperative that we have a modern laboratory. We are now looking to have pre-requisite equipment before commencing implementation of the project objectives,” he said.

However, Dr Nyamawe said AI wasn’t a new aspect to the country, noting however that despite its presence in developed countries, Africa including Tanzania haven’t exploited the benefits fully compared to developed countries.

He said there were various local institutions that now use AI for disease diagnosis, wildlife monitoring and management as well as mines using the technology for identifying tired drivers who need resting time in order to prevent accidents.

Speaking on the technology, Imara Technology managing director Alfred Chengula said any technological decision aimed at improving production, efficiency and competitiveness should be taken up positively.

“However, more time is required to change the culture of Tanzanians and accept the changes. I should encourage those behind the project because this is a new technology to the community,” Mr Chengula said.

But, Blueswitch chief executive officer Salum Mvano said the term AI was broad and that it could be substituted with the concept of Information Communication Technology (ICT).

“AI means replacing human beings with machineries. For example, it calls for installation of irrigation systems that would automatically operate executing the various tasks on the farm instead of farmers,” he said.

“Similarly, weeding equipment could be programmed and get the job done, record important information that could have been done by farmers,” Mr Chengula added.

He said such technological advancements requires huge investment and resource mobilisation for the country to have enough servers for data and reliable electricity that would prevent disruptions of operations.

According to him, Tanzania still has a long way to go, but the spirit is high and the political will does exist.

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PEOPLE WORTH WATCHING…

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2022 SHOW PLANNING

JOIN US IN JOHANNESBURG IN 2022 After two years of digital events, the 5th edition of AI Expo Africa will be returning in 2022 to a brand new home, that of Johannesburg, South Africa. The Gauteng and Tshwane Regions of South Africa are home to the largest concentration of new and emerging 4IR tech companies dubbed the “AI Tech Capital of Africa” allied to a strong demand for vendor solutions, jobs and skills in this category. Its also a great opportunity to explore “The City of Gold” and the Administrative Capital of South Africa. The AI Expo Africa community is excited about the much awaited return to face to face events in 2022 and we hope you can join us for our largest event so far.

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2022 Exhibitor Consulations

2022 Delegate Tickets

Want to reach the largest buyer and partner community focused on acquiring AI, RPA & Smart Technology solutions? Discuss your needs & find a package to suit your sales & marketing goals TODAY

Sign up TODAY before March 2022 to secure your super early bird ticket and a 50% discount off full access tickets for the show.

Click here to request a 1-2-1 meeting

Click here to register

SYNAPSE | 2ND QUARTER 2022

2022 SHOW PLANNING

We connect you to decision makers, innovators & thought leaders via the largest event of its kind in Africa After the amazing success of 4 editions of AI Expo Africa, we are proud to announce our 2022 event will be staged in Johannesburg on the 19th and 20th September with a VIP opening event on the evening of 18th September.

AI Expo Africa welcomes sponsors and vendors from all corners of the 4IR smart technology community and we have a range of sponsorship packages to suit all budgets for vendors, platform providers, service providers, deployment partners, start ups and niche community / skills partners alike.

You will enjoy a packed two-day programme allied to a unique exhibition area affording delegates, exhibitors and sponsors learning and networking opportunities. There are 9 core value propositions for sponsors & exhibitors, namely;

Learn

Pre-show

Leads

Build early brand momentum, awareness & press coverage months before show day

Generate new business opportunities with qualified buyers seeking solutions

Gain valuable insights about the regional trends, needs & wider African 4IR landscape

Promote

Promote products, services & programmes to a curated audience of buyer centric delegates

Network

Coverage

Network with thought leaders, buyers, Governments, trade missions & start-ups

Reach 30K+ practitioners via our regional mailer, magazine, social & video ecosystem

Analytics

Build

Post show

Obtain detailed insights via our buyer survey plus opt-in delegate list & show analytics

Develop your African channel, deployment & distribution partner network with local ISVs

Leverage our network, with newsletter, trade magazine & bespoke services 365 all year

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TM

2021

2022 SHOW PLANNING

AI EXPO AFRICA SHOW STATS Key Numbers at a Glance*

Ratings & Reviews* % of respondents rating the show as EXCELLENT or GOOD

3,000,000+

Event Admin

91%

91%

WEBSITE INFORMATION

91%

QUALITY OF PROGRAMME

94%

AI MEDIA STAFF

TICKETING & PAYMENTS

Event Content

92% PROGRAMME QUALITY & MIX OF TALKS

DID YOU ENJOY YOURSELF AND LEARN SOMETHING NEW?

20,000

Practitioner Mailer Reach

10,000

Expo Hall Space (Sq Feet)

9,594

Registered Delegates

5,410

LinkedIn Trade Group

1,420

Companies

133

87% QUALITY & MIX OF VENDORS

95%

83%

QUALITY & MIX OF SPEAKERS

OVERALL EXPERIENCE

Speakers & Sponsors

91

Countries Represented

Decision Maker & Buyer Community

Event Value

94%

Event Site Traffic per year

83%

93%

DELEGATE / SPEAKER

92

%

WILL YOU ENJOY US AT AI EXPO AFRICA 2022?

DID WE MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS?

22%

31%

Decision Maker / Budget Holder / Purchasing Analyst / Influencer

17

%

End User / Employee Other

30%

Delegate diversity

66%

Seniority & Status

34%

% 13% 7

31%

25

%

Customer Reviews

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AI Expo Africa

Energy Ln, Century City, Cape Town

4,9

73 reviews

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CxO, VP, Director, Manager Founder Engineer Contractor / Employee Student

11

%

13%

*from AI Expo Africa 2021

Other

TM

2021

2022 SHOW PLANNING

TESTIMONIALS & VENDORS “Incredible talk thanks for the amazing experience you and your team have done a great Job”

VENDOR SNAPSHOT FROM 2021

INSPIRED TESTING, SA

“Enjoying this talk great content and like the advocating for Africa” ZINDI UK

“I am inspired by how the Kenyan government is embracing tech specifically Artificial Intelligence” AMATHUBA AI, SA

“Congratulations on the success of the AI Expo Africa! The work you and your team put in was quite evident” UNPACK AI, CHINA

“Am glad I attended the AI Expo Africa and NVIDIA really delivered a well insightful presentation which was of profound assistance to me” BIMO TECH, SA

“Great Telkom presentation” DELEGATE

“Love the Intel initiatives” CAPITEC BANK, SA

“Congratulations on another great show for 2021” DEPT OF COMMERCE, INTERNATIONAL TRADE ADMINISTRATION, USA

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PROUDLY SPONSORING AI EXPO AFRICA 2021

INSTADEEP IS COMMITTED TO ENSURING AFRICA SHAPES THE FUTURE OF AI. INSTADEEP.COM

PARTNERSHIP NEWS

CSIR SIGNS AN MOU WITH ARM / Read original article here /

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), through its National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System (NICIS) unit, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Arm Limited. The purpose of the collaboration is to mutually explore education, research, and innovation opportunities across South Africa’s compute ecosystem.

“Arm is committed to creating access to opportunity everywhere compute happens; this includes investments to grow, support, and unlock the potential of learners, researchers, and technologists in emerging economies,” said Will Abbey, SVP Sales and Partner Enablement, Arm. “South Africa is one of the fastest-growing epicenters of technological innovation; collaborating with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to provide access, training, and support for Arm’s technologies will accelerate innovation and opportunity in this growing market.”

The collaboration will also include various bi-directional research, education, ecosystem, and industry partnerships tailored towards testing, training, and adoption of Arm technologies by CSIR stakeholders.

“

Arm is committed to creating access to opportunity everywhere compute happens; this includes investments to grow, support, and unlock the potential of learners, researchers, and technologists in emerging economies

”

The MoU will deliver on the following key objectives engineered for the benefit of the NICIS ecosystem The promotion of Arm software, IP, and teaching / research materials to universities in South Africa.

The provision of such materials to the universities, whether by Arm or by CSIR or by the parties working together; and The development of communities of practice in South Africa which will develop, market and support Arm-based educational and research offerings.

In addition, the MoU will enable the advancement of key projects and programmes within the CSIR in partnership with the Arm ecosystem.

Notably: The CHPC ACE Lab will serve as a technology testing and innovation centre to enhance HPC products working with Arm. The CSIR Annual Student Cluster Challenge will receive programmatic

benefits in partnership with Arm’s Research and Education divisions.

The NICIS Human Capital Development Programme will receive content and programming support from Arm Education and related K-12 computer education partners.

Following the completion of the MoU signing ceremony, Arm will be formally launching their first ecosystem Lab in East London, Eastern Cape. The Lab will be the first of its kind in demonstrating Arm’s IP products and capabilities, as well as introducing Arm’s technology ecosystem to South Africa.

National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System The National Integrated Cyber Infrastructure System (NICIS) promotes scientific and industrial development through the provision of high-performance computing capability, high-speed network capacity and a national research data infrastructure integrated hierarchically into globally connected systems and into local system systems, providing seamless access for the research and education communities of South Africa.

It is a national initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation and implemented by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

https://nicis.ac.za/ Source: CSIR Facebook page Jemima Ashietey Yellowrockconsultancy jemima@yellow rockconsultancy.com

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PRODUCT LAUNCH

ADVANCING YOUR WORLD The use of Artificial Intelligence forms a core part of Telkom’s commitment to technological advancement and digital transformation.

Our technologies can help close the inequality gaps in South Africa, including the education system.

In September izwe.ai was launched.

It is an AI platform developed by Telkom, in collaboration with Enlabeler, which transcribes and translates speech into text from English and local languages. izwe.ai aims to deliver local-language transcription and translation that gives all learners equal access to learning material.

This will also have a far-reaching impact on the health and business sectors, allowing for academic and legal transcription; contact centre transcription and analysis; and media production services.

Visit www.izwe.ai for more information.

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2ND QUARTER 2022 | SYNAPSE

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LAUNCHING MAY 2022

State of AI in Africa 202 2 REP O RT

Launching 14th June at CSIR

Analysis of the 4IR in Africa – A Foundation for Growth Report Commissioned by the AI Media Group

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REGIONAL NEWS

AI LAWYER HELPS KENYANS GAIN ACCESS TO JUSTICE QUICKER / Read original article here /

Kenyans will soon benefit from the introduction of technology in the legal field through the Kenyanlaw.com platform which is designed to make access to justice quicker and easier.

Kenyanlaw.com contains a legal database that gives free access to legal resources, information and services in Kenya.

Resources available in the platform include contract templates such as house rental agreements, house help contracts and car sale agreements.

Speaking in Nairobi, Kenyanlaw.com Managing Director Harman Grewal said the platform is a game changer and a timely solution.

“After much research we realized people do not have easy access or knowledge of what the law is in Kenya. We have therefore created a digital platform that aims to be the largest database of legal information, services and resources in Kenya,” he averred.

Kenyanlaw.com also offers easy to understand guides on legal processes in Kenya such as how to get married, how to buy land, what is the drone regulation in Kenya. All the guides are written as 3 pagers for easy-to-understand structure.

The platform offers free services making it incredibly easy to find a lawyer on both simple matters as well as specialized issues such as a patent.

The managing director stated that the platform will make it easy for everyone to understand laws through simple article summaries on legal processes in Kenya where citizens can easily read on processes such as what to do after a car accident or how to properly terminate a domestic worker’s contract.

“No one wants to get caught on the wrong side of the law, we often do; as a result of not

Kenyanlaw.com contains a legal database that gives free access to legal resources, information and services in Kenya/CFM - Bruhan Makong

knowing the law. Unfortunately, ignorance is not a defence but fortunately it is not a sentence,” Grewal said.

“There are free contract templates available so people can see how the process of certain legal procedures are to be conducted. Often times people are taken advantage of because they did not know the law.

He added: “One goal for Kenyanlaw.com is to make it as easy as possible to know what the law exactly is,” he added.

The second goal is to make it as easy as possible to find a legal service provider where one can follow a flow chart that will take him to the digital doorstep of a legal service provider. This means even if one is searching for something as specific as a Sports lawyer in Kenya or a personal injury lawyer in Meru, the platform can connect you.

Isaac Cohen, Creative Director, Kenyanlaw.com, stated that the AI Lawyer is the biggest win as it allows for Kenyans to simply ask a legal question by recording themselves speak and they can be texted the answer or emailed a video explanation. In addition, they can even be connected to an expert nearby through the AI system.

“The biggest breakthrough for us so far is the development of the legal Ai. This is an automatic legal response system that can respond to any and all legal queries.

Questions can be asked in any format, including text, audio and even video in any language,” he explained.

This allows for those that cannot read and minority language speakers to even access justice through the platform.

He added that “This could finally be the solution for Kenya as most offences happen due to a lack of knowledge. Imagine if, your rights have been violated. And now you know what the processes are and you even know who to talk to and that it would even be possible to access justice.

The two tech innovators have begun collaborating with legal stakeholders in Kenya and are building relations to further accelerate the goal to make access to justice easier in Kenya.

“A lot of Kenya’s problems can be resolved through IT. We are focusing on human rights and water projects currently in Kenya. As we have created one of the cheapest water solutions in the world here in Kenya.

“We now focus on access to justice and with time we will make Wi-Fi available across the country for free and even roll out digital job centres allowing anyone with access to a smartphone, cybercafé or even a boda boda with a smartphone to earn a living in Kenya.

The future for Kenya is bright, the future for Kenya is Tech,” he stated.

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REGIONAL NEWS

The centre will offer training in AI and robotics for researchers, youths and interested citizens

CONGO BRAZZAVILLE LAUNCHES ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH CENTRE

/ Read original article here /

The facility, which will be inaugurated this week by Uneca and the government of the Republic of Congo, is a groundbreaking centre devoted exclusively to advancing research through artificial intelligence.

The African Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence, funded through the ECA and other partners, will provide the necessary technology education and skills to promote Africa's integration.

A partnership agreement to develop the project was signed in March 2021 by the Republic of Congo and Uneca during the official opening ceremony of the 7th session of the African Regional Forum on Sustainable Development.

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he United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Uneca) is set to launch the region's first Artificial Intelligence (AI) research centre in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo.

The facility, which will be inaugurated on February 24 by Uneca and the government of the Republic of Congo, is a groundbreaking centre devoted exclusively to advancing research through artificial intelligence to advance digital technology in Africa in areas of digital policy, infrastructure, finance, skills, digital platforms and entrepreneurship, Uneca announced Wednesday.

The scientific research centre will be located at the Denis Sassou Nguesso University in Kintélé, in north of Brazzaville. It Its mission will be to improve the current landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI) research in Congo and Africa in general; explore the potential of AI and the macroeconomic impacts, the transformative effects on societies and economies, particularly in the sectors of banking, health, agriculture, transport, and the environment; guide the use of AI to promote the economic and social development of the continent.

Interdisciplinary research will be conducted at the centre.

The African Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence, funded through the ECA and other partners, will also provide the necessary technology education and skills to promote Africa's integration, contributing to generate inclusive economic growth, stimulate job creation, break the digital divide,

and eradicate poverty for the continent's socio-economic development and ensure Africa's ownership of modern tools of digital management, it was noted.

"The centre will be the first of its kind in Africa, and it will provide a regional hub for the development of emerging technologies in the region," the Uneca said.

A partnership agreement to develop the project was signed in March 2021 by the Republic of Congo and Uneca during the official opening ceremony of the 7th session of the African Regional Forum on Sustainable Development.

The international partners involved in the realisation of the centre include the UN Industrial Development Organization (Unido), Unesco, the International Telecommunications Union, the Jack Ma Foundation and other key ECA partners.

"Congo will serve as a regional AI hub across the continent to give access to the deepest and highest quality pool of AI talent," the Uneca said.

The centre will offer training in AI and robotics for researchers, youths and interested citizens. It will also offer the same skills to talented elementary and senior school students.

The pursuit of a Masters of Science Degree in AI and data science in collaboration with the University of Denis Sassou Nguesso will be available at the AI centre.

Africa will therefore, have the appropriate modern digital management tools, with a view to Agenda 2063, which consists of programmes and initiatives to accelerate Africa's economic growth and development.

OPINION

“ The so-called "digital gap"

AI AND THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR PEOPLE / By Johan Steyn /

C

omputer systems that can do tasks normally performed by humans, such as vision, speech recognition, decision-making, and language translation are all examples of artificial intelligence (AI).

During the Dartmouth Summer Research Project in 1956, John McCarthy coined the term "Artificial Intelligence" for the first time. For this meeting, it was proposed to proceed with the assumption that "any facet of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so clearly characterized that a computer can be made to simulate it."

As of now, nearly any human task in every industry may be automated. Repetitive and back-office duties are particularly relevant here. The domains of education and healthcare have already made significant progress. Also, unfortunately, in the use of AI technology as a weapon.

South Africa has a slew of innovative AI start-ups and established firms. Our academic and scientific capacities in this sector are exceptional, given our society's unique issues. This technology is being used by many banking organisations, telecommunications firms, and other industry heavyweights.

The quality of our educational system and the reality that the majority of our populace is detached from technology are huge concerns.

The so-called "digital gap" leaves many people behind. In the midst of the fourth industrial revolution, we are still dealing with problems from the second industrial revolution, such as electricity supply.

Employment will be a primary issue in the years ahead. Large-scale job losses are unavoidable when clever automation and AI are used. The author and scholar Noah Yuval Harari writes about the possibility of creating a "useless class."

This technological assault will not spare South Africa. Unemployment is at an all-time high, and secondary and university education is not effectively educating young people for the technological future. Positively, SA is an ideal offshore destination. Our market has seen an increase in BPO and call centre positions in recent months.

Computers that learn and think can already do many monotonous activities.

Administrative duties will require fewer human personnel in the future. Even “white collar” occupations may be at risk.

Technology will increasingly impact the careers of accountants, lawyers, and financial managers. Jobs requiring a “human touch” or intuition may be affected. This technology will also affect doctors, caretakers, and instructors.

When it comes to technology and jobs, the focus is on improving rather than replacing existing positions. A balancing act like this will be challenging for many years.

leaves many people behind.

In the midst of the fourth industrial revolution, we are still dealing with problems from the second industrial revolution, such as electricity supply

”

AI and digital assistants are unquestionably the future of business. For enterprises of all sizes, the technology is mature and ready to be implemented. Rather than focusing solely on technology, these projects should be tackled as a people-first concept. A company's employees' well-being, as well as the company's long-term business goals, should be aligned and supported by technology.

As we move forward, we must include our employees, solicit their feedback, and address their concerns. When we talk about automation and digital assistants, workers understandably worry about losing their employment. Having a well-thought-out change management plan in place can ensure that individuals will work together and improve their enthusiasm.

It's also critical to think about the right business case. Business leaders must first agree on the problems they are trying to solve before they can consider a technology solution. If you start small, show early success and create momentum, the organisation will follow you along on this exciting adventure.

Johan Steyn is a Smart Automation & Artificial Intelligence thought leader and management consultant. He is the Chair of the Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics with the IITPSA (Institute of Information Technology Professionals of South Africa). He writes in his capacity.

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REGIONAL NEWS

Four African countries—Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia—have banned all forms of crypto trading, while 7 including Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon have some forms of prohibition regarding crypto trading.

These governments have cited numerous reasons for the bans from fraud and money laundering to tax evasion and terrorist financing.

These prohibitions, however, do not mean that crypto adoption amongst citizens isn’t growing in these countries. In its 2021 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report, Chainanalysis reported that Africa’s cryptocurrency market grew by over 1200% between 2020 and 2021. Kenya, Nigeria, Togo, South Africa, Ghana, and Tanzania are also featured in its Top 20 Global Crypto Adoption Index. In fact, Kenya is leading the continent in peer-to-peer crypto trading.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR)

1st African country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender / Read original article here /

The Central African Republic (CAR) has just become the first African country to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender.

T

he Parliament of the Central African Republic (CAR) today voted unanimously to sign a bill that will recognise Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency as national legal tender, according to a statement posted to the country’s presidential Facebook page. After El Salvador, CAR is just the second country in the world to legalise it.

The bill was earlier proposed by Gourna Zacko, CAR’s Minister of Digital Economy, and Calixte Nganongo, CAR’s former Minister of Finance and Budget. Last week, lawmakers adopted proposals to facilitate the use of cryptocurrencies and create regulatory bodies to oversee the use and adoption as well. At Parliament earlier today, the draft bill was officially adopted and will soon be signed into law.

“With cryptocurrency, there is no more control of the Central Bank.

You have your money, you send it to an investor for a business, you receive it in any currency, you can dispose of it in Dollar, Euro, CFA, or Naira,” said Zacko, according to a report by iAfrikan.

How popular is crypto?

Although bitcoin has gained worldwide popularity and usage in the past decade—with global adoption growing by 2300% since 2019 and 103 countries allowing crypto trading—governments and regulators worldwide are still debating its safety. At least 9 countries, including China and Qatar, have absolute bans on crypto, while 42 others have levied other forms of prohibition.

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Chainanalysis’ Geography of Cryptocurrency Report This is what makes the CAR’s adoption an interesting feat. The country hasn’t topped any charts, the highest crypto transactions don’t originate from it. In fact, at 11%, CAR has the fifth-lowest internet penetration rate in Africa, and this brings into question the feasibility of crypto adoption in the country. As of 2020, only 48% of its population had access to mobile connections, while less than 2.8% were connected to social media. Unlike mobile money, trading, storing and transacting with cryptocurrencies require both smartphone and internet connections, both of which the CAR is low on.

While CAR remains the first and only African country to legalise cryptocurrency for now, other African countries are rushing towards another form of digital currencies, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) which are digital representations of fiat currencies and unlike crypto, can be regulated by their central banks.

If you enjoyed reading this article, please share it in your WhatsApp groups and Telegram channels.

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REGIONAL NEWS

PROJECT JETSON Predicting movements of displaced people in Somalia using ML / Read original article here /

Summary Jetson is an experimental project launched by UNHCR’s Innovation Service in 2017 to better understand how data can be used to predict movements of people in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the Horn of Africa. The project combines data science, statistical processes, design-thinking techniques, and qualitative research methods. It actively seeks new data sources, new narratives, and new collaborations in order to keep iterating, and improving.

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Results Jetson initially focused on understanding the catalysts that cause people to flee their homes in Somalia. Extensive field research resulted in the definition of ten key variables of forced displacement, such as commodity market prices, rainfall, and violent conflicts. Supported by machine learning, these variables inform an index that allows for shortterm predictions of expected migration flows out of Somalia. To fulfil its mission, Jetson works in collaboration with partners such as the World Meteorological Organization, the Met Office in the UK, academia, and other UN institutions such as UN Global Pulse.

Overall, Project Jetson demonstrates an innovative use of machine learning in the context of forced migration movements: It runs short-term predictions more efficiently, at a higher frequency, and at lower costs than traditional calculations.

Potentially, the project can be replicated to other contexts that currently are regions of frequent forced migration outflows.

RESEARCH NEWS

WILL EAST AFRICA TURN TO AI FOR WEATHER FORECASTS? / Read original article here /

Unreliable weather forecasts may now force the African countries to opt for artificial intelligence (AI).

T

his follows a recent shipment of a device to Uganda from the US where it has successfully predicted weather better than before.

Atmo AI will later this year be swamped with a grander invention that its owners believe will make it the iPhone of global meteorology. “Every nation that’s not a global superpower will need a cheaper device like this”, said Alexander Levy, Atmo’s co-founder.

He said this was an attempt to improve weather forecasting for poor countries “without the pricey supercomputers and data centres”.

AI can analyze past weather patterns to predict future events “much more efficiently and accurately” than the current technology.

Mr Levy, quoted by Bloomberg website on Green Technology, insisted that countries -poor and rich alike - need reliable weather forecasts.

He added that through successful testing, Atmo would be sending a superior version of the device to Uganda for weather prediction.

“It (the gadget) became an eye opener for us,” the Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UMA) acting executive director David Elweru, said.

Uganda had been subjected to landslides, floods, sporadic droughts and locust attacks which devastated farms. Many Uganda neighbours and African nations facing such ravages lacked the most modern tools to plan for a changing climate.

The CEO of the California-based Atmo insists that artificial intelligence (AI) programmes were the answer to the drawback. Mr Levy cautioned that it was not proper for countries to act or react only after weather-related disasters have happened.

“By doing so, we are dooming people to disaster and suffering,” he said, noting that only few weather authorities in Africa have embraced AI. The Uganda weather body, UNMA has signed a multi-year deal with Atmo for the application of AI technology in weather prediction.

“It’s a novel approach. We picked the start-up because its device was way,way cheaper,” said Stephen Kaboyo, an investment official.

Uganda currently has more than 100 weather stations and three forecasting radars across the country.

The firm is planning to extend its coverage to the entire East African Community (EAC) region and is already in talks with Kenya.

Unreliable weather prediction in the region has largely been blamed on the use of obsolete technology to collect data.

There are also cases of failure to replace old manual systems for weather reporting with modern digital equipment.

Tanzania recently signed an agreement with the American firm Enterprise Electronics Corporation (EEC) for the purchase of two state-of-the-art satellite weather radars.

The two radars, costing $ 4.9million (about Sh. 11.4billion), will be installed in Dodoma and Arusha, bringing to seven the number of radars operating in the country.

“ AI can analyze past weather patterns to predict future events “much more efficiently and accurately” than the current technology

”

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Intel, the Intel logo, and Xeon are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. © Intel Corporation 2020

INVESTMENT NEWS

Zindi, a South African startup that operates as a professional network of data scientists, has raised a US$1 million seed funding round to help it continue to grow after experiencing rapid growth in its early stages.

ZINDI RAISES US$1 MILLION IN A SEED ROUND

to expand its network of data scientists / Read original article here /

T

he funding round was led by the San Francisco-based Shakti VC, with participation from other investors including Launch Africa Ventures, Founders Factory Africa, and five35 Capital Partners.

With the belief that data science should be accessible to everyone, Zindi was founded in 2018 by Celina Lee, Megan Yates, and Ekow Duker. Today, the company hosts a community of over 34,000 data scientists

who are tackling some of the world’s most pressing business and social challenges with machine learning and artificial intelligence.

“We are an African platform with a global reach that has African roots.” So far, our primary focus has been on expanding our presence in the African market. For every data scientist and aspiring data scientist on the continent, we will be the go-to platform to which they can turn. According to Lee, “If we can get it right in Africa at scale, if we can create a world where companies, data

sets, and talent are seamlessly connecting on the Zindi platform to create new exciting value, it is entirely possible that we will be able to replicate this model in other emerging market contexts where many of the opportunities and challenges are similar,” “This means that all companies will be able to unlock the power of their data; people will be able to pursue careers in data science regardless of race, gender, or geography; and artificial intelligence solutions will be designed in a way that will positively impact the everyday lives of people all over the world,” Lee explained.

While Zindi charges companies to post challenges, it crowdsources machine learning solutions for those challenges.

Here, Zindi steps in to fill the void by making data science and artificial intelligence (AI) more widely available.

“ We are an African platform

with a global reach that has African roots.” So far, our primary focus has been on expanding our presence in the African market.

”

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PARTNERSHIP NEWS

ARM LAUNCHES CORTEX LAB IN SOUTH AFRICA / Read original article here /

The (E3)NGAGE Lab will bring people in emerging economies together to cultivate local technology ecosystems, catalyze startups and engage developer communities.

Digital technologies will have a profound impact on the way we live in the coming decade with the most far-reaching changes taking in the emerging economies in Africa and Latin America.

Forward-looking strategies across these regions are geared towards participation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution with an emphasis on artificial intelligence, cloud computing, robotics, and advanced wireless technologies.

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E

stablishing a thriving digital ecosystem, however, remains a work in progress: existing grids and communication networks are often stressed. Rural communities often remain digitally isolated.

Even in established business corridors, adoption of the latest technology can lag: Africa accounts for less than 1 percent of the cloud services markets, according to Xalam Analytics. Just as importantly, we need to close the knowledge gap.

Arm is launching the Arm (E3) NGAGE lab To support digitization initiatives across emerging economies, Arm is launching the Arm (E3)NGAGE lab focused on engaging, educating, and cultivating local technology

ecosystems while making Arm a central pillar of the computing ecosystems across these regions. Programs and initiatives will also seek to catalyze startups and developer communities in the region.

The pilot (E3)NGAGE lab is being launched in partnership with the Cortex Hub, a regional technology incubator located in East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa, Africa’s automotive capital. Other participants include the National Integrated, Cyberinfrastructure System of South Africa, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and numerous Arm hardware and software partners. The lessons learned here will then serve as a blueprint for opening centers elsewhere in Latin America and Africa.

PARTNERSHIP NEWS

The long-term impact of the (E3)NGAGE lab model across targeted ecosystems includes an increase in the awareness and prominence of Arm’s technologies, capacity, and ecosystem capabilities.

Within the Cortex Hub, some of the targeted projects and services include: Robotics Lab. Leveraging our relationship with Microbit and the first African Arduino Inspiration Lab, the Build With Arm program will focus on K-12 Learners in South Africa using the training and curriculum resources of the Arm School Program and Arm Education.

Electronics Hardware Lab. Arm will support the current activities of the Cortex Hub Electronics Hardware lab by providing workshops, demos, and ecosystem training events that leverage Arm based tools and resources. The Electronics Hardware Lab will also provide opportunities for ecosystem partners like Arduino, Edge Impulse and Spark Fun to interact with developers and startups.

The (E3)NGAGE Learning Challenge, the lab will expand ecosystem awareness of Arm based MCUs and encourage the development of local solutions. We will also encourage startups and prepare training platforms to familiarize developers with Arm tools, resources, and libraries such as Keil MDK Community Edition and Mobile Studio.

Bare Metal as a Service Lab. Arm will leverage the infrastructure support activities of the Cortex Hub Bare Metal as a Service Lab to demonstrate and promote proof-of-concept set ups for our Infrastructure line of business and support local versions of innovative projects like the Mini Nodes project.

Automotive Lab. Arm-led initiatives like Autoware and research-focused development activities will seek to catalyze regional automotive/IoT led innovations built on Arm. The lab is also equipped to support projects and demos

to highlight local V2X, telematics and location-based services.

Sustainability. The lab will also spotlight Arm led sustainability programs and partnerships, while building local stakeholder networks that are developing needed solutions that address regional problems.

Cost, Culture and Channel Strategy What makes a product for Africa or Latin America different than those developed for North America or Japan?

Cost is, of course, an inescapable factor.

Manufacturers such as Celkon, Karbonn, and Transsion have succeeded by inventing ways to include higher-end features while lowering the price. Some have also shifted manufacturing to Ethiopia and Kenya. UltraLow-Cost smartphones based on our Total Compute processor design philosophies will further help expand the market by lowering the bill of materials.

Localizing features, however, is equally as important. Take Transsion, the number one smartphone company in Africa through its brands Techno, Itel and Infinix. Some Techno phones support up to four SIM cards, allowing customers to save money and capitalize on variations in coverage strength over different networks. It also leads in offering keyboards in Hausa and other African languages.

The company also notes it beat Google in leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) for better photo quality and facial recognition for African faces.

Similarly, carriers are working on ways to upgrade their infrastructures for greater efficiency and greater amounts of traffic. MTN, the South African carrier that provides service across the continent, has already added 1,100 sites built with Open RAN technology to its networks. It is also experimenting with AI to reduce power consumption at its 20,000 plus substations across the continent.

Channel strategy can be another differentiator. Just as cellular carriers used “free” phones to gain traction in the U.S., innovative channel ideas such as bundling solar and smartphone subscriptions or no-interest layaway plans have become vehicles for reducing transaction costs.

Meanwhile, others are building products to better navigate existing circumstances. Cape Town’s MediaBox is developing an inexpensive portable set-top box that lets consumers take and view content wherever. In countries where bandwidth is often constrained, it changes the TV experience.

An export opportunity Creating a path from concept to commercial deployment for digital technologies in these regions is one of the largest economic opportunities of our time. GSMA estimates that mobile technologies alone could generate $155 billion in economic value by 2025.

East London’s expertise in auto technology, combined with the chronic traffic problems of cities like Lagos, makes it a potential hub for the development of V2X technologies for improving safety and traffic management. One could also imagine Latin America and Africa becoming test beds for using mid-band 5G for fixed wireless access as existing incumbent technologies aren’t as pervasive or edge technologies.

Forging this path is also a moral imperative. In these regions, technology can make a difference for the better. For both reasons, Arm will be there.

“

The pilot (E3)NGAGE lab is being launched in partnership with the Cortex Hub, a regional technology incubator located in East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa, Africa’s automotive capital.

”

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VENDOR NEWS

MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES NEW INITIATIVES TO SUPPORT 10,000 AFRICAN START-UPS

/ Read original article here /

Under the remit of its recently established Africa Transformation Office (ATO), Microsoft has announced new initiatives to accelerate the growth of 10,000 African startups and fast-track investment in Africa’s startup ecosystem over the next five years.

M 36

icrosoft’s recently launched global Founders Hub will now be available to African startups

SYNAPSE | 2ND QUARTER 2022

through the ATO. The Founders Hub is a self-service hub that provides startups with a wide range of resources, including access to mentors, skilling content, tools like Microsoft Azure and GitHub, and goto-market and business support.

Microsoft is also creating new partnerships with accelerators and incubators across Africa, including Grindstone, Greenhouse, FlapMax and Seedstars to provide industrybased startups with access to markets, technical skills and funding opportunities.

These partnerships will provide Africa startups with access to skilling programs, access to markets, including opportunities to co-sell with Microsoft, and access to technology, with support from Microsoft’s

“ The Founders Hub is

a self-service hub that provides startups with a wide range of resources, including access to mentors, skilling content, tools like Microsoft Azure and GitHub, and go-to-market and business support

”

VENDOR NEWS

engineering and product teams for coinnovation opportunities.

To enable startups to rapidly scale using investment funding, Microsoft is establishing industry alliances and partnerships with venture capital investors that will facilitate access to $500 million in potential funding for African startups. This funding will come from a network of venture capital investors, who will dedicate a portion of their financial support to startups in the Microsoft network.

Microsoft has already established partnerships with several key venture capital investors, including Banque Misr, Global Venture Capital and Get Funded Africa, and the intention is to grow this network of venture capital investors in the next five years to increase funding and enable them to scale up and drive economic growth.

Africa’s startup market is booming Microsoft believes the vibrant African startup market is well placed to become a cornerstone of the continent’s digital economy, supporting local innovation through relevant solutions to societal challenges.

“Investments into Africa’s startup ecosystem are growing at an exciting pace.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), there are more than 640 active tech hubs across Africa, accelerating innovation and creating employment, particularly among the youth,” says Wael Elkabbany, Managing Director, Microsoft Africa Transformation Office.

“However,” Elkabbany points out, “currently the African startup market represents less than one percent of total investments worldwide. This needs to change.”

He reveals that Microsoft’s endeavour to dramatically scale its impact will be driven by an overarching strategy with three key focus areas.

The Founders Hub The Founders Hub includes opportunities for startups to sell to Microsoft’s corporate and enterprise customers. Microsoft will also support startups in geo-expansion activities, where startups can scale up by selling in new countries or regions.

“The Founders Hub allows Microsoft to engage with accelerators, incubators and tech hubs across the continent. Our partnerships with key African accelerators provide crucial support to accelerate growth-stage startups with their business development and market expansion plans,” says Gerald Maithya, Startups Lead, Microsoft Africa Transformation Office.

Partnerships with key startups Microsoft will partner with B2B-focused startups, scaleups, “soonicorns” (businesses with the potential to become unicorns) and unicorns across a range of leading African industries, and those concentrated on working with SMEs. “We understand that each startup is unique and exists beyond the limitations of a one-size-fits-all partnership model.

This is why Microsoft will tailor each partnership to the needs of individual startups, providing support and access – whether to technology, markets and co-sell opportunities, funding or digital skills – to enable them to grow and contribute to the wider economic growth of Africa,” says Maithya.

The primary goal of these partnerships will be to provide support in one or more of the following areas: Access to technology: Spanning from the provision of cloud credits and developer and productivity tools like GitHub to access to Microsoft’s traditional partner ecosystem, technical support and enablement. This also includes contact with Microsoft’s engineering and product teams for the purpose of co-innovation.

Access to markets: Including the opportunity to co-sell with Microsoft from the SME Marketplace and the ability to partner with Microsoft on expansion activities, together with access to relevant enterprise and government partners. Microsoft will empower startups to scale to new levels through geographical expansion into new countries and co-selling opportunities.

Access to funds: Microsoft’s partnerships with venture capital investors will provide qualified startups with access to funding.

Access to skilling enablement: Microsoft will provide a seamless, self-contained

package of high-quality skilling content. From a single interface, startups will be able to access multiple technical, self-paced trainings, workshops, instructorled sessions and virtual training.

This platform will also offer growth learning tracks aimed at empowering startups to achieve more. As part of the engagement model to reach as many startups as possible, Microsoft will also be looking at partnering with government startup programmes, regional ecosystems of startups networks and associations, and accelerators.

Partnerships with venture capital investors Microsoft is establishing partnerships with venture capital investors, primarily those with global reach and regional bases, who are interested in one or more regions within Africa.

“Our goal in establishing these partnerships with venture capital investors is to extend the network of potential partnerships between Microsoft, venture capital investors and startups, thereby increasing the funding made available to eligible startups,” continued Maithya.

Elkabbany concludes, “There is huge potential for Africa to become a thriving hub of digital innovation on the global startup landscape. Our ambition is to see an explosion of local invention that will contribute positively, not just to Africa’s digital economy, but to global society.”

“ Investments into Africa’s

startup ecosystem are growing at an exciting pace. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), there are more than 640 active tech hubs across Africa, accelerating innovation and creating employment, particularly among the youth

”

2ND QUARTER 2022 | SYNAPSE

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https://aiceafrica.com/

AICE: Using AI to Bolster Productivity & Economic Growth Overview In order to realize the economic benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and effectively participate in the digital economy, there remains an urgent need to collectively invest heavily in disciplines that build data science and machine learning skills and experience.

This was the outcome of the Annual AI for Leader’s Round Table held by The AI Centre of Excellence in Eswatini which hosted private and public sector leaders to uncover the value for AI. The AI for Leaders Roundtable

by AICE, is going across as many countries in Africa to meet leaders, build value for AI, and offer services that allow business to grow their value from AI. The core of AICE is to build capacity, develop products and solutions and contribute to AI research and Development.

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SYNAPSE | 2ND QUARTER 2022

About AICE AICE is a world class centre that is keen on spearheading the AI technological revolution in Africa.

We are impact led and outcome driven with a fearless conviction for transformation using data and AI for good. Insanely crazy for innovation that will create jobs and drive human wealth.

“ Africa is going through a digital transformation,

and as this happens massive data is continually generated that can allow for us to better and more deeply understand specific impact and specific correlation. Africa has an opportunity to leapfrog the rest of the world by digitizing based on smart technology

”

John Kamara, Co-Founder AICE

“

Smart technology capacity development trickle-down effect means that Africa can greatly thrive from the large population of who can propel it to stand in a space of impact regionally and globally to solve problems and grow the economy.

”

Natasha Ochiel, Co-Founder AICE

REGIONAL NEWS

Jaime Teevan, Chief Scientist, Microsoft, Dr Jacki O’Neill, founding director of the Microsoft Africa Research Institute and Dr. Kagonya Awori, Senior Applied Scientist, Microsoft brief press during the opening of Microsoft Africa Research Institute in Nairobi, it’s first in the continent, which will be housed at the newly opened African Development Centre (ADC) offices in Wetlands’ Dunhill Towers.

MICROSOFT LAUNCHES RESEARCH INSTITUTE IN NAIROBI / Read original article here /

Microsoft has announced the establishment of the Microsoft Research Institute (MARI), its first in the continent.

The Research Institute will be housed at the newly launched African Development Centre offices in Westlands, Nairobi.

A

longside the Research Institute, the new ADC offices will also house the Microsoft Garage, a new entity structured as a freeform workspace where Microsoft employees, interns, schools, and community groups can find the tools and training they need to launch products and learn skills.

Microsoft says the Research Institute will be at the forefront of inventing new technologies to advance scientific knowledge in the field of computer science.

The company says it will conduct cuttingedge research in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, System and Human Computer Interaction.

“

At MARI our mission is to understand, build and deploy innovative cloud and AI technologies which not only address core opportunities in Africa and help solve local challenges at scale, but which also contribute to creating a more productive future of work, health and society globally

”

MARI, Microsoft says, will forge new synergies between research, engineering, and product development to power globally relevant innovation.

The research institute will collaborate closely with Microsoft East Africa and the ADC to forge strategic alliances and links with local academia to boost the country’s and region’s research capabilities in the tech sphere, with three focus areas on health, work, and society.

A multidisciplinary team of Nairobi-based researchers, designers, data scientists and software engineers has already been assembled at the institute. This team has

completed its first scientific project on the digital transformation of African small and medium-sized businesses, examining how work practices in Africa have changed since COVID, and will soon release the findings.

The institute says it is also working on several projects, including Swahili (and Sheng’) language technology, and exploring how AI can extend healthcare beyond the clinic.

There will also be three PhD fellowships have been awarded to African University Students who will intern at MARI in 2022.

The institute will offer a visiting researcher program, summer schools, and a venue for student projects.

What they said: “Digital technology is transforming work, and deep scientific innovation is required to enable productive and sustainable futures for everyone,” said Jaime Teevan, Chief Scientist for Microsoft.

“Kenya is leading the way in the transformation of work” said Dr. Jacki O’Neill, the founding director of MARI during the launch. “At MARI our mission is to understand, build and deploy innovative cloud and AI technologies which not only address core opportunities in Africa and help solve local challenges at scale, but which also contribute to creating a more productive future of work, health and society globally.”

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