Hacklab
HACKLAB Foundation, an Information Technology firm, held the 5th edition of its annual Hacklab Hackathon to equip young people with core skills and training in IT and related fields.
The event brought together over 800 software developers, experts, policymakers, academics, and industry players to discuss the potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning as well as develop solutions to solve problems in the areas of agriculture, financial technology, healthcare, e-commerce, mobility, Internet of Things, education and communication.
The successful virtual edition of Africa’s largest hackathon witnessed a combination of several tools used to streamline the collaboration between participating teams, 10 facilitators, eight judges, over 30 speakers and 50 mentors respectively, four recruiters, and an execution team.
Chairman of the foundation, Franklin Asare, said, “The Hacklab Foundation is building the necessary capacity to sustain the digital revolution by providing young people with the right skill set for future jobs. We are building a repository of skills to close the digital skills gap in Africa to help industry leverage these to meet their human capital needs.”
Speaking on behalf of GIZ, NIED Cluster Co-ordinator, Gerald Guskowski, intimated that, “through the ‘FAIR Forward – Artificial Intelligence for All’ project, a German Development Cooperation project implemented by GIZ, we are working towards a more open, inclusive, and sustainable approach to artificial intelligence globally while supporting more local open innovations for sustainable human development in our partner countries.”
Ben Mensah, Head of Wealth, West Africa, Standard Bank Group said, “Stanbic Bank is happy to be part of this journey since its inception and even more so excited about our participation beyond the hackathon. We have, over the years, recruited talents from Hacklab to join Stanbic Bank for their internships, national service, and some of whom have transitioned into employees. We look forward to doing the same this year.”
Amongst the many participants in the event, nine emerged winners. Team Zetta from Ashesi University emerged the overall winner with their early diagnosis of Autism using a portable and low-cost electroencephalograph device with automated diagnosis.
The teams will receive seed funding, a 12-week GIZ fully-sponsored AI Accelerator Programme with Founder’s Institute to scale their solutions into startup businesses, and business development support from the Stanbic Business Incubator.
They will also receive perks from Vodafone, IBM, and Africa’s Talking to support the development of their solutions into commercially standard products/services.