IBM to use AI to tame big data in its second African research lab

IBM has opened its 12th global research facility, with the launch of a new center in Johannesburg, South Africa. The lab, the second to be built by the company on the continent, is backed by a ten-year investment program, worth around 60m, which was agreed by the computing firm with the University of the Witswatersrand (Wits), the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department of Science and Technology. Across Africa, telcos and governments are putting fresh emphasis on stepping up the continent's participation in the space race. IBM's director of research for Africa, Dr Solomon Assefa, said the lab has been opened with unprecedented speed, just 18 months after the company entered into an agreement with local partners. Assefa said the facility will combine industrial research with a startup incubator, working closely with Wits' own entrepreneur accelerator in the same innovation hub, known as the Tshimologong Precinct.