SA’s Minister of Communication and Digital Technologies to open AI Expo Africa 2020

South Africa’s Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams is set to deliver the opening keynote at AI Expo Africa 2020.

MINISTER NDABENI-ABRAHAMS stated, “This event is taking place at a time when the whole world is grappling with new realities and a new normal brought about by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Advances in artificial intelligence technologies hold the promise of bringing us closer to finding lasting solutions to help us solve the challenges we are facing as humanity. The world is undergoing fundamental changes due to advances in technology and progress made in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Similarly the continent and my country South Africa, are going through same profound changes”

This year’s speaker line-up features keynotes by Kay Firth-Butterfield, Head of AI and Machine Learning at the World Economic Forum; Neil Sahota, IBM Master Inventor, UN AI expert and lecturer at University of California, and Fred Werner, Head of Strategic Engagement at the International Telecommunication Union, and Bayo Adekanmbi, CTO MTN Nigeria and founder of Data Science Nigeria, as well as Prof Tshilidzi Marwala, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg and Deputy Head of the 4IR Commission of South Africa.

AI Expo Africa 2020 has drawn heavyweight vendors like SAP, Huawei Cloud, Blue Prism, UiPath, Intel, Dell, Microsoft and Genesys who will be exhibiting their solutions and products at the expo. They will be joined by a contingent of local startups that includes Ashanti AI, Botlhale AI Solutions, DotModus, Predictive Insights, FinChatBot, FIRtech, Learning Machines, Kenai, Heat Vision A.I, WizzPass, Zindi, Synthesis and Future Fragment.

The expo will also feature dedicated French, Dutch and Swiss pavilions where startups from the three respective countries will showcase their AI and Data Science innovations and solutions.

In addition, delegates can also look forward to an Intel Youth in AI ePavilion which aims to foster inclusion of youthfocused AI entities and initiatives. ai