The French government plans to help SA tech startups to partner with European companies, by taking three SA tech startups to France in March next year where they will meet and partner with members of the French tech community.
The announcement was made by the French embassy in South Africa’s deputy head of mission Emmanuel Suquet (pictured above) last night.
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The Young Enterprise Initiative will give three South African artificial intelligence (AI) startups an opportunity to spend two weeks in France.
The French government will in March take three SA startups to France as part of its new initiative
Suquet, speaking at the AI Expo Africa 2019 VIP opening and launch reception in Cape Town, also revealed that the French government plans to help the three startups participate in the Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge.
France is one of the main partners of @aiexpoafrica and will launch in a few weeks the Young Enterprise Initiative, a program that will give the opportunity to three South African startups specialized in AI to spend two weeks in France! pic.twitter.com/KapNCf1E0X
— France in S. Africa (@FrenchEmbassyZA) September 3, 2019
Early-stage deep tech startups stand to win a €100 000 grand prize in the sixth edition of the competition (see this story).
The finals of the competition will be held during the Hello Tomorrow Global Summit which takes place on 12 and 13 March in Paris.
Last night’s event, which was held at the Century City Conference Centre, also saw Cape Town-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup DataProphet receive an award for the best exhibition stand at last year’s edition of the expo.
CirrusAI initiative launched
Meanwhile also at the event, Wits deputy vice chancellor Zeblon Vilakazi announced the launch of the CirrusAI research initiative.
CirrusAI — an initiative by the Molecular Sciences Institute in the Wits School of Chemistry — will initially focus on research and application of AI in chemical, physical and biological systems.
Vilakazi said the initiative was the “first of its kind” on the continent. He added that Africa will also host the next centre for quantum computing in partnership with IBM. It is not yet clear where this centre will be based.
Vilakazi: Wits is the academic partner in the #CirrusAI and we are excited to partner with uni’s, business, techies all over the world.#CirrusAI #Wits4IR pic.twitter.com/TWHnhvGOCX
— Wits_News (@Wits_News) September 3, 2019
AI Expo Africa 2019, which kicked off today and ends tomorrow (5 September) at the same venue, will include plenary keynotes from Nvidia AI Technology Centre director and technologist Simon See, InstaDeep co-founder and CEO Karim Beguir and MTN Nigeria CTO and Data Science Nigeria founder Bayo Adekanmbi (see this story).
In addition, 17 AI startups are exhibiting their solutions at a dedicated innovation cafe at the expo.
Read more: AI Expo Africa 2019 to showcase 17 startups at dedicated innovation cafe
Read more: Grand prize of €100k up for grabs in Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge
Featured image: French Embassy in South Africa’s deputy head of mission Emmanuel Suquet (France in S.Africa via Twitter)
