The Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA) is excited to announce the launch of www.AIAFRICA.WIKI – a continental wide, open source & curated repository of Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning resources, policies, people & projects in Africa. Join the conversation & become a country editor today! #AIAfricaWiki
“Predictions aren’t the means to judge a futurist. The impact they make on the world is.”—Aaron Saenz You might ask, “Is it possible to predict the future?” Of course it is. People accurately predict the future… at least some of the time. The problem is, you can never guarantee that a prediction will be accurate. Even […]
AI expert Dr Jacques Ludik is a smart technology entrepreneur, on a mission to help companies thrive, not survive. Photo: Supplied Artificial Intelligence, leapfrogging Africa’s development JOHANNESBURG – With a population that’s 1,3-billion strong, Africa could – and should – leverage its demography to bolster development. Around 60% of Africans are under the age of […]
Synapse Magazine Zindi_MIIA_Synapse_Nov2018
Building the African Bot How Ethical AI is Harnessing Talents in Setting Up A Research Lab In the 21st century, every organization has a data. But what makes a great one? We all know what failure looks like. are invested, teams are formed, time goes by—but nothing comes of it. No one can necessarily say […]
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Africa is on an exponential path as not only experienced by the tremendous traction and explosive growth that Cortex Logic as a next generation AI company has experienced over the last 6 months, but also with the dramatic increase in AI-related events on the Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA) events calendar in 2018 (see also a […]
Doing Edtech right in Africa The continent’s antidote to solving deficit gap in Education By Derek Kweku Degbedzui, Co-founder and CEO, Future-Ready Lab (Edtech Startup) In November 2016, An Africa 4 Edtech Conference was held under the theme “Turning cutting-edge opportunity into grassroots reality: perspective on how to develop, scale and finance education in Africa”. […]
How’s Africa solving China’s Problems We face neither East nor West: we face forward-Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Abstract Chinese investment activity in Africa has skyrocketed in recent years, outpacing every other nation except South Africa. China finances more infrastructure projects in Africa than the World Bank and provides billions of dollars in low interest loans to […]
INTRODUCTION Technology-based start-ups have long been an important driver of Africa’s economic growth and competitiveness. But while these firms provide outsized contributions to employment, innovation, and productivity growth, many policymakers focus more broadly on helping all business start-ups without regard to type. Such a broad-based focus will do little or nothing to spur economic growth […]
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Africa is on a roll as can been seen with the dramatic increase in AI-related events on the Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA) events calendar in 2018 (see also a list of past and upcoming events in 2018 below with a crescendo of events in September). It has been a privilege and a great shared […]
The three biggest AI challenges businesses face Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming pervasive in everyday life but many businesses still apply AI for the sake of AI, rather than for the sake of real business value. This was one of the main messages to emerge from the SAS Road to Artificial Intelligence event, held in […]
By Karthik Reddy, 8 June 2018 Some people say that the robots will soon be taking over our jobs, rendering many people jobless. While this is not very likely to happen in the near future, the truth is that artificial intelligence sector is rapidly growing and the revolution it brings is real. Scientists believe that […]
AI will play a significant role in creating new models and services, contributing to the economic growth of global countries. AI to contribute significantly to global economic growth Artificial Intelligence (AI) could almost double the value of the global digital economy to $23 trillion by 2025, up from $12.9 trillion in 2017. This is according […]
As I’m passionate about shaping a better future in the Smart Technology and specifically to help transform Africa through Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data & Analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), and Blockchain technologies, it was a privilege to participate as invited AI expert at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, Switzerland on 15-17 May 2018 […]
Following the exciting AI for Good Global Summit, I was involved in another very stimulating and thought provoking conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland with delegates, diplomats, representatives from across the globe in the audience. The event, AI: Current Policy Reflections and Future Strategies, was held at the Palais de Nations, United Nations on […]
The Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA) and Africa will be represented via Dr Jacques Ludik’s participation as invited AI expert at the 2nd edition of the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, Switzerland on 15-17 May 2018. This Summit is organized by ITU in partnership with XPRIZE Foundation, the global leader in incentivized prize competitions, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and sister United […]
Dr Jacques Ludik, president and founder of the Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa, and CEO and founder of Cortex Logic. AI solutions have myriad business benefitsMeeting of Minds: ITWeb Artificial Intelligence 2018 Register now to attend Meeting of Minds: ITWeb Artificial Intelligence 2018 at The Forum, Bryanston on 1 and 2 August. For the agenda, click here. Jacques […]
As multi-national organizations, national and local governments, corporates, platform businesses, startups, academic institutions, and non-profit organizations are starting to embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is also great to see it growing in leaps and bounds on the African continent (see also some previous posts that showcase some of the early traction: Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa […]
As a Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA) community along with our partners we are on a mission to use exponential technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain, as well as the operationalization of Big Data & Analytics and Data Science to help transform Africa and shape a better future in the Smart Technology Era. As […]
Season’s greetings to the Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA) community, our partners and all our supporters who showed interest in how exponential technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the operationalization of Big Data & Analytics and Data Science can help shape a better future for us all, including to help transform Africa. We live in […]
Venue: AIMS South Africa, 6 Melrose Rd, Muizenberg, Cape Town Venue: AIMS South Africa main lecture hall, 6 Melrose RoadDate: 5 December 2017Time: Refreshments 18h30 – 19h00, talks commence at 19h00 Agenda • “DIANA – Data, Insight, Analytics, Newness, Aspirations” – Prof Pete Grindrod, Oxford University • “AI in Africa – Shaping a better future in the Smart Technology […]
MIIA (via Dr Jacques Ludik’s participation) was also represented at the Global Symposium on AI and Inclusion on 8–10 November 2017, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Global Network of Internet and Society Research Centers (NoC) has organized the event which are co-hosted, on behalf of the NoC, by the Institute for Technology and Society of Rio […]
Inaugural AI Africa Conference MIIA has been represented at the inaugural AI Africa Conference on 26 and 27 October 2017 at Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, where Dr Jacques Ludik has delivered a keynote address on “AI in Africa – Past, Present & Future” as well as a presentation on “Operationalizing of AI and Big Data & Analytics to help businesses […]
There is at present a major global focus on machine learning involving billions of dollars in investment and revenue; AI and by implication machine learning, is set to change the working of the world, including Africa. Deep Learning, as a subset of the machine learning toolbox and defined as artificial neural networks with many levels of […]
Dear MIIA community, We are entering an eventful period on the MIIA calendar! Herewith some updated highlights with some more details below, including registration links (see also corresponding LinkedIn post): We are excited to announce our next MIIA event that will be hosted by PwC in V&A Waterfront, Cape Town on the 16th of August 2017 […]
Dear MIIA community, We are entering an eventful period on the MIIA calendar! Herewith some highlights with some more details below: We are excited to announce our next MIIA event that will be hosted by PwC in V&A Waterfront, Cape Town on the 16th of August 2017 at 6pm. The theme of the event is “Data […]
In a recent post about Deep Learning applications, platforms, limitations and quantum computing we have announced a panel discussion on “How Artificial Intelligence is disrupting Industries” which took place on 25 May 2017 in Cape Town. This event was hosted by Far Ventures, a start-up studio and incubator that aims to foster technology entrepreneurship in Africa by founding […]
Dear MIIA community, The MIIA community is growing at a rapid rate! We have currently 1050+ members and followers registered across MIIA’s channels. This just shows again the significant interest that we currently have across all disciplines and industries in Machine Intelligence, AI and Data Science and its applications. MIIA’s aim is helping to transform Africa through an innovative […]
This post provides an introduction to some of the topics that will be discussed in upcoming events hosted by the Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA), in particular Deep Learning and its applications, tool and platforms such as Google’s TensorFlow and IBM Watson (amongst others), Deep Learning limitations and Quantum computing for Machine Learning. As mentioned in a previous post “Solving […]
Dear MIIA community, In follow-up to the previous blog post, herewith a few announcements and links with respect to Webinars, Hackathons and upcoming Meetups: How AI is Transforming Smart Manufacturing Webinar If you have missed the live webcast, watch the recording on Demand here:http://info.avidsolutionsinc.com/how-ai-is-transforming-smart-manufacturing Special opportunity for MIIA and Bennit.AI to remotely participate in OSIsoft Hackathon 2017 in San Francisco Details about […]
Dear MIIA community, UPDATE: This post has been updated with links to the video as well as presentations of the MIIA event on 23 February 2017 Herewith the links to the video and presentations of another successful Meetup in Cape Town with about 70 people attending. As mentioned at the Meetup we have also started […]
Dear MIIA community, Best wishes to all for 2017! The Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA) is excited to announce a partnership with Data Science Nigeria, a non-profit organization to accelerate data science adoption and raise a new breed of local experts by training and mentoring young Nigerians through face-to-face, virtual online classes, project-based support and holiday […]
As a smart technology entrepreneur with a machine intelligence research background and passionate about advancing the state-of-the-art in machine or artificial intelligence (AI) to help solve real-world problems, it is very encouraging and exciting to see the AI buzz in the tech industry right now, the progress made in the field to create an even […]
Dear MIIA community, Herewith the preliminary agenda for our upcoming MIIA Meetup on 27 October 2016. (see MIIA Meetup and MIIA Events for details) Agenda for MIIA Meetup @ Barclays Rise on Thursday 27 October 2016 at 5pm Overview of the latest MIIA developments (including results from the MIIA survey) – Jacques Ludik [5 minutes] Introduction to the Data Science Academy – […]
In follow-up to the keynote address at LaunchLab‘s Business Mixer event in Stellenbosch on 26 October 2016 and the Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA) event at Rise Africa in Cape Town on 27 October 2016, this blog post contains the links to the videos and presentations at the respective events. Due to the success of the October MIIA Meetup, we are […]
In follow-up to my previous post on Artificial Intelligence in the Smart Technology Era and this technology being at the center of the Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa(MIIA) partner activities with Silicon Cape, Barclays’ Rise Africa, and Cenfri’s Insights2Impact, we have some further exciting developments and upcoming activities in the areas of Finance, Education, Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Agriculture that I would […]
We live in truly exciting times where smart technology is not only substantially altering the way we work, play, live, and interact with one another, but is also disrupting all industries, disciplines, economies, education, society, the public sector, and entire systems at an exponential rate. The World Economic Forum refers to this new era as the Fourth Industrial […]
MIIA Community, Thanks to all who attended our first Meetup in Cape Town! We had an awesome meetup with 45 people attending and lots of interaction and participation in the Q&A sessions and the informal discussions afterwards. I think it is fair to say that we are all very excited about the potential of Machine […]
With so much excitement, hype, news and breakthroughs happening around the world with respect to Big Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Data Science, it is not surprising to see significant interest in how these technologies – within the framework of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) – can also be utilized here in Africa to help address […]
Projects Overview We would like to encourage the MIIA community to propose as many project ideas as possible. We welcome any application, research or technology related projects that would help solve (or at least be a step towards solving) African problems, help to build a stronger more innovative community, advance the state-of-the-art in Machine Intelligence […]
MIIA Community’s real-time messaging and chat environment As Slack is utilised as the MIIA community’s real-time messaging and chat environment, we would like to encourage everyone in the MIIA community to join us on Slack. Each member that has signed in on the official MIIA website with their LinkedIn profile along with members that have joined us from […]
In follow-up to my previous blog about transforming Africa through technological innovation, we are excited to launch the new Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA) website that now allows members to login via their LinkedIn profile, share ideas and contribute via blogs, register and participate in projects, and be notified of resources, events, and other activities […]
Even though Africa is still experiencing many challenges on multiple fronts on its journey to achieve full socio-economic and technological inclusion, it is very exciting to see so many initiatives and events where governments, business, academia and non-profit organisations are all working together to help transform Africa, in particular through technological innovation. Some recent examples include […]
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