1000 students across Africa to build AI MODELS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Zindi, the professional network for data science in Africa, recently hosted UmojaHack Africa 2023, a two-day event that aimed to tackle some of the continent's biggest challenges using machine learning. As the largest pan-African machine learning hackathon, the event brought together over 1,000 students from 345 universities in 36 different countries to build machine learning models focused on climate change.

The hackathon featured a number of challenges, with the Rubik's Cube Reinforcement Learning Challenge, Cryptojacking Detection Challenge, and Carbon Dioxide Prediction Challenge standing out as the most popular. The winners of each challenge received cash prizes and online learning licenses, with students from Algeria, Tunisia, and Kenya taking top honors. Several key organizations sponsored the event, including DeepMind, Kaggle, and MPOWER Financing. These sponsors offered expert advice and shared datasets to make the event a success, helping to ensure that the students had access to the resources they needed to tackle the challenges at hand.

According to Celina Lee, CEO and co-founder of Zindi, the event is critical for unearthing and upskilling emerging data talent in Africa. With a projected shortage of data talent worldwide in the coming years, initiatives like UmojaHack Africa are becoming increasingly important for helping to meet the growing demand for skilled professionals in the field. She said, “We are thrilled with the turnout and enthusiasm of the students who participated in UmojaHack Africa 2023 this year, and look forward to seeing these rising stars develop into successful professionals on the Zindi platform.”

The event also served as a platform for building a strong community of like-minded individuals, with students participating from dorm rooms, computer labs, and student hubs across the continent. As Avishkar Boopchand, Senior Research Engineer at DeepMind, noted in his address to participants, building strong communities is key to driving positive change and shaping the future of the continent.

UmojaHack Africa 2023 demonstrated the immense potential of machine learning to drive positive change in Africa. By bringing together talented students from across the continent and providing them with the resources they needed to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the region, the event highlighted the importance of investing in emerging data talent and building strong communities to drive growth and solve complex problems. As the largest pan-African machine learning hackathon, UmojaHack Africa is poised to become an even more important platform for fostering innovation, collaboration, and impact across the continent in the years to come.