Africa is on the rise. Mobile and Internet penetration continue to rise, according to the latest ITU data. The continent's entrepreneurs are taking advantage of this growth in connectivity, leading to a rapid growth of tech hubs across the continent in recent years, fueling fresh innovation. But as the world moves deeper into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, what is next for Africa, especially regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI)? "AI happens in Africa!" said Alex Tsado, Co-Founder and Board Chair at Alliance4ai, during the recent AI-driving digital divide and the future of African economies AI for Good webinar.

South African-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) software & solutions veteran and founder of Cortex Logic – Dr. Jacques Ludik – has been awarded a premium accolade at Africa's Tech Week event, underlying a life dedicated to AI and Data Science Innovation. Ludik, an Africa-based smart technology entrepreneur and AI investor/ AI ecosystem builder, holds a PhD in Computer Science and has amassed 25 years' experience in the study and exploitation of AI & Data Science in real world applications. Ludik was formally a founder of Bennit AI, Mosaic, SynerG and CSense Systems, the latter being Africa's first AI company sold to General Electric in 2011. Over the course of his career Ludik has published a wide range of papers on AI, Advanced Analytics, Machine Learning and Data Science and is a big supporter of AI for social good. He is currently founder & CEO of Cortex Logic as well as founder & president of the Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA).

The SA Innovation Summit as an annual flagship event on the South African Innovation Calendar, is a platform for nurturing, developing and showcasing African innovation, as well as facilitating innovation thought-leadership. Created to support and promote innovation and facilitate collaboration within its own eco-system, the initiative brings together corporates, thought leaders, inventors, entrepreneurs, academia and policy makers to amplify South Africa's renowned competitive edge and to inspire sustained economic growth across the continent of Africa. The outcomes achieved by the Summit, is a powerful platform to bring together thought leaders and accelerate innovation in South Africa, and into the African continent as whole. MIIA ill also be represented at the South African Innovation Summit and invitethe MIIA community to also join the 48-hour hackathon being held in Cape Town Stadium from 5 - 7 September 2017.

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 as well as the AI: Current Policy Reflections and Future Strategies on 18 May 2018 at the United Nations. As mentioned here as well as this post, this was also an opportunity to represent the Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA), Cortex Logic (as one of the sponsors) and the African perspective on the use of these technologies with respect to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. In this post I would like to share some links, feedback, perspectives and outcomes of the AI for Good Global Summit. I also share my presentation on Health, Water, Smart Education & Smart Technology Services for African Smart Cities. In a separate post, I'll do the same for the AI: Current Policy Reflections and Future Strategies conference.

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...

We are looking at showcasing and sharing a number of Data Science & Machine Intelligence use cases by members of the MIIA community. MIIA members who would like to present is welcome to send an email to [masked]. Although we have a start time of 5pm for this event (with event registration starting at 4:30pm), we'll probably start at about 5:15pm to give enough people the chance to get there. See also map below for secure parking for Barclays Rise visitors.