AI Expo Africa 2018 aims to showcase opportunities in artificial intelligence

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the hottest trends among startups, the world around. This September Cape Town will host one of the continent’s first events that aims to promote the AI business opportunities.

In a press release on Wednesday, AI Media announced that it expects over 400 delegates to attend the AI Expo Africa 2018 — which takes place from 9 to 11 September 2018 at the Century City Conference Centre in the city.

In all 27 speakers are due to present at the expo, along with 28 AI exhibitors. There will also be an Innovation Cafe housing 20 AI startups.

Expo chairman, veteran media and publishing consultant Roy Bannister said the event is aimed at the CxO and C-Suite decision-makers who are grappling to understand how AI applications can add value or impact their business today.

“Allied to the inclusion of AI cloud platform providers, Tier 1 and 2 deployment and service providers, AI start-ups, investors, educators, government, and AI ecosystem community builders, this event will give those attending a real feel for what’s available now or in the near future,” he said.

He said with six themes and three tracks the event is focused on real enterprise AI case studies and the application of AI in business, AI deployment challenges, ethics and skills plus the business innovation driving current deployment trends across all industry sectors.

AI Expo Africa 2018 will give those attending a real feel for what’s available now or in the near future

Event director Nick Bradshaw said the event is the first of its kind, bringing together international and local corporates and startups involved with AI under one roof.

“We have created this event so that startups and the big ICT, cloud and AI players can all be in the same room, something that is often overlooked by event organisers who exclude SMEs, so this event is uniquely inclusive in that regard.

“We also have dedicated tracks for innovation, vendors and case studies so delegates will see ‘real world’ AI business applications they can adopt now,” stated Bradshaw.

Silicon Cape board member Alexandra Fraser said with its range of activities and keynotes the event will allow AI innovators to showcase their products, demonstrate use cases and secure new business opportunities. “One of the biggest challenges for any startup is to access customers and key decision makers,” she said.