Data Science Nigeria targets 1m AI experts in 10 years, unveils book for pupils - ITREALMS

ITREALMS: 

Leader in upskilling revolution in Artificial Intelligence (AI) skills, Data Science Nigeria (DSN) has revealed its target in the next 10 years will be to train some 1 million AI experts, reports ITREALMS.

This is coming as DSN unveiled its first AI book for pupils, so as to enable them become more productive.

DSN, a non-governmental organisation is bent on democratising knowledge in AI and related fields for socio-economic development in Nigeria.

Speaking at the AI Summit in Lagos, the Convener, Data Science Nigeria, Dr. Olubayo Adekanmbi, said that he desires that by 2025 every Nigerian child under 10-years understands the concept of AI, it’s applications and builds the right skills set so that Nigeria becomes the talent pool for the rest of the world.

He reiterated the vision to raise 1 million high-qualified, and world-class AI talents in the next 10 years.

DSN, he said, believes that building a local data science/big data/AI ecosystem will position Nigeria to become the outsourcing hub for international Data Science/Advanced Analytics/Big Data projects with opportunity to access 10 per cent share of the global data science outsourcing projects, worth USD 3.3 billion in revenue by 2020.

In a keynote presentation titled, ‘Artificial Intelligence for Development’, Distinguished Professor (Emeritus) and Director of Intelligent Systems Research at Oregon State University, Prof. Thomas Dietterich, described AI as catalyst for economic advancement.

He said that AI presents opportunities for economic transformation in unique.

According to him, although the developing economies still lag behind in some areas with regards AI adoption and applications, however, organisations like Data Science Nigeria, have shown clear roadmap capable of putting the country on the right footings and build the national competitiveness given the right skills set.

He emphasised that developing AI enabled weather management solutions, for instance, will assist the continent address some challenges faced by farmers thereby leading to improved food production/sufficiency.

Prof. Dietterich, said that with the growing community of AI enthusiasts and learners, Nigeria and indeed Africa will witness a major boost in skills needed for research and development focused on bringing applied Artificial Intelligence solutions to existing community problems.

He, however, emphasised that to make progress in this direction requires making sense out of the big data and applying the results to track diseases, and make the nation safer, better, and well-structured for collective well-being

Prof. Dietterich, who is one of the founders of the field of Machine learning, applauded Data Science Nigeria for taking the lead to connect experts with AI developers/enthusiasts to develop solutions that can transform the society.

While applauding the First AI Book for Primary and Junior Secondary School students in Nigeria, the keynote speaker further urged experts and stakeholders to rave-up DSN’s mission to deliver positive impact to the society using Artificial Intelligence.

Further, Dr. Adekanmbi, said that as a nation of 200 million people, with median age at 18 years, it is important to prepare the young people for the future by exposing them to the right skill set; “especially when we know that most of the jobs we know today will go into extinction in the next 5-10 years.

“So, the question is: what becomes of our country with so much young people who are lacking in the right skills for the ‘future jobs’. That informed the whole idea of Data Science Nigeria Artificial Intelligence Skill Building. It has become a mandate. We have taken up the responsibility to say: it is not going to be the son of a rich-man or an average man; wherever they are in this country, have access to the same knowledge that students in San Francisco, Paris and London have access to., by creating a book that will be distributed free. We are not going through the traditional model ‘I buy for my child’ rather ‘you buy for a community or the whole school’. The approach is: make knowledge in a simplified manner.

The second thing is to build a system that will allow that knowledge to be passed. That is why we are working various State Governments. We are going to run a lot of ‘train-the-trainer- program where we will equip the teachers to also know, because you can only give what you have. We are going to train the teachers in AI. Afterwards, we are going to give them a few copies of the Book. It is going to be on batches till we reach every part of the country.

He pointed out how government can be part of the process to raise one million inspired young people to change the country’s narrative and make Nigeria the AI destination in future, he called for integrating AI as part of the national curriculum.

This, he said, would generate more attention by the students towards learning the discipline. “In addition to that, government can also support the effective production of this book which we are giving out free. DSN is a non-profit, everything we are trying to do is to democratise AI; from Lagos to Maiduguri to Uyo, to Sokoto, let every Nigerian child be exposed to the possibilities of AI. Let them build the right skills and let’s get our nation ready for the opportunities that AI presents; shaping opportunity creation, innovation, invention research, and transformational possibilities.

The Summit also exposed participants to DSN’s practitioner-led model where experienced and hands-on data scientists in Nigeria and in the Diaspora train and mentor young Nigerians through face-to-face, virtual coaching classes, project-based support and holiday boot camps funded by individuals and corporate organizations such as Softcom, Terragon Group, Microsoft, MainOne, TechCabal, BlueChip Technologies, amongst others.
Chuks Egbuna/Editor

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Pix 1: L-r: CEO Retina-AI, USA, Dr Stephen Odaibo; Toyin Adekanmbi (Mrs); Convener, Data Science Nigeria, Dr. Olubayo Adekanmbi; Director/HOD, Curriculum Services Dept., Ministry of Education, Lagos State, Adegbamigbe Esther Ibukun (Mrs) and Emeritus professor of Computer Science at Oregon State University, Prof Thomas Dietterich, at the Unveiling a Book – Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Hands-on Python for Grades 5-9 as part of activities for Data Science Nigeria AI/Big Data Conference 2019 held at Oriental Hotel, Lagos on Tuesday, November 19, 2019.

Pix 2: L-r: CEO Retina-AI, USA, Dr Stephen Odaibo; Convener, Data Science Nigeria, Dr. Olubayo Adekanmbi; Toyin Adekanmbi (Mrs); a student-participant; Director/HOD, Curriculum Services Dept., Ministry of Education, Lagos State, Adegbamigbe Esther Ibukun (Mrs) and Emeritus professor of Computer Science at Oregon State University, Prof Thomas Dietterich, at the Unveiling a Book – Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Hands-on Python for Grades 5-9 as part of activities for Data Science Nigeria AI/Big Data Conference 2019 held at Oriental Hotel, Lagos on Tuesday, November 19, 2019.

Microsoft backs Data Science Nigeria’s on AI bootcamp - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Microsoft Africa has been confirmed as the lead sponsor of the third edition of the Data Science Nigeria (DSN) Artificial Intelligence (AI) bootcamp, which aimed at building capacity in the use of Deep Learning concepts in addressing analytical gaps in financial inclusion, reports ITREALMS.

The all-expense-paid bootcamp will focus on the use of modern tools, particularly Microsoft Azure in Deep Learning, for emerging concepts including Convolutional Neural Networks, Recommendations Systems and Natural Language Processing, with a view to applying them in Nigerian-centric, solution-oriented use cases.

The bootcamp is driven by a broader strategic intent to accelerate Nigeria’s development through a solution-oriented application of Machine Learning in solving social/business problems, and to galvanize data science knowledge revolution for employability, technological innovation and sustainable socio-economic development.

This is reinforced in the DSN’s vision to create one million new jobs in the next ten years through world-class knowledge and best practice application.

The five-day residential Artificial Intelligence Bootcamp and Hackathon will be held between 10 and 14 October 2018. It will feature face-to-face teaching, virtual online classes, and a hands-on hackathon using the Kaggle.com platform.

Distinguished data scientists from leading research and academic institutions from the USA, United Kingdom and South Africa will facilitate the sessions.

Microsoft, through its 4Afrika Initiative, has for the last five years been aggressively upskilling the African developer community in their use of modern technologies, equipping them to innovate in the fields of healthcare, education, finance, and agriculture. Through its 16 AppFactory academies, Interns4Afrika, MySkills4Afrika, Microsoft Virtual Academy and AI PopUp Lab programmes, it has paired developers with technical experts to gain real-world experience in cloud computing, secure coding, machine learning, bot framework, and data analytics.

The free residential bootcamp comes with an intensive requirement. All the participants are selected from an ongoing pan-Nigeria selection competition on recommendation engine algorithm after an intensive ninety-day pre-study of learning materials in Machine Learning theories and practice. All participants are also required to have a working knowledge of Microsoft Azure.

The bootcamp learning sessions will be enriched by leading experts from different parts of the world, including Matt Grasser, Director, Inclusive Fintech, Bankable Frontiers Associate, USA; Moustapha Cisse PhD, Google AI Lab; Dr Emmanuel Doro, Principal Data Scientist, Jet.com, USA; Sara Hooker, Google AI Lab; Prof Tom Dietterich, Distinguished Professor & Director Oregon State University & Founder BigML; Dr Sulaimon Afolabi, Argility South Africa; Ekow Duker, ex-Chief Analytics Officer, Barclays Africa and now MD IxioAnalytics South Africa; Dr Jacques Ludik, CEO Cortex Logic, South Africa; Karim Beguir, Founder/CEO Instadeep AI, London; Omoju Miller PhD, Senior Data Scientist, GitHub, USA; Abiodun Modupe, PhD Researcher, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; Adewale Akinfaderin, Graduate Researcher, Florida State University & Incoming Senior Data Scientist, Lowe's Inc., USA; Dr. (Mrs.) Sakinat Folorunso, Lecturer, OOU Nigeria; Robert John, Data Science Officer, enter5ive and Dr (Mrs) Yinka David-West, Director, Lagos Business School. Full details of the bootcamp’s activities and schedule is available here.

Microsoft executives will also visit the bootcamp to facilitate classes and share global best practices on Microsoft Azure and provide hands-on mentorship to the students.

The bootcamp will be heralded by a one-day industry stakeholders’ seminar on the theme, “New Algorithms for the Financially Excluded Segment”. The summit, scheduled to be held on Wednesday 10 October 2018 at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos will focus on understanding emerging trends and advanced data analytics use cases in financial inclusion.

Data Science Nigeria is a non-profit initiative of MTN’s Chief Transformation Officer, Bayo Adekanmbi, spurred on by a compelling drive to raise a new generation of data scientists and knowledge entrepreneurs who will lead high-impact artificial intelligence research for socio-economic development, transformational innovation and economic prosperity of Nigeria and the African continent at large.

Ayo Midele/GEE

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Data Science Nigeria unveils Artificial Intelligence hub @ UNILAG – ITREALMS

ITREALMS: 

A non-profit foundation, Data Science Nigeria (DSN) has unveiled the phase 1 of its Community Centre and Artificial Intelligence Hub for cross-industry and academic research, at the campus of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), reports ITREALMS.

According to the visioner of Data Science Nigeria, Mr. Bayo Adekanmbi, who is Chief Transformation Officer (CTO) of MTN, a hands-on data scientist and a doctoral researcher who uses data science algorithms to understand low-income customers, DSN is to accelerate applications of artificial intelligence to solve social and business problems through a strategic partnership.

ITREALMS gathered that DSN has organised free bootcamps, industry summits, online free courses and provide internship/direct job placements for the Nigerian data science community.

A press statement made available to ITREALMS indicated that the Hub launched on Friday, June 8 at the university campus with the Vice Chancellor, Professor Oluwatoyin Temitayo Ogundipe and Dr. Uyi Stewart, Director, Global Development Strategy, Data & Analytics, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, USA, in attendance.

DSN’s drive, ITREALMS gathered, has strategic partnership between the academic community, industry, and local and international technology hubs similar to the highly successful Stanford University-Silicon Valley model.

DSN is committed to supporting Nigerian students and encouraging them to turn their academic research into innovative start-ups or social enterprises aligned with millennial developmental goals. DSN has a particular interest in solving local problems in the fields of health, education, agriculture and financial inclusion.

In addition, the Hub will serve as the community centre for data science enthusiasts and experts to fraternize, learn, share ideas and participate in local and international projects. DSN also plans to use the Hub for face-to-face masterclasses, industry meet-ups, and dial-in conferences with its over 100+ mentors from across the globe. Data science practitioners can also participate in many industry data projects as interns, freelancers or experts at the Hub.

The Hub features modern data collection tools including biometric readers, an AWS AI DeepLens Camera, Google Clips, Intel Movidius Neural Stick, GPS tracking devices, Bionic Nature Observing Device, Internet-of-Things suite and many others.

The Hub’s unveiling ceremony will also include the announcement of its highly successful learning bootcamp/hackathon, titled, Deep Learning Nigeria, to be held October 10-15, 2018. This will be a fully residential, all-expense-paid learning camp focused on deepening financial inclusion through the use of machine/deep learning for credit risk scoring, identity image/voice authentication, ATM point-of-presence location optimization using geospatial data, and biometrics/voice analytics.

This will be complemented with a first-of-its-kind Inter-Campus Machine Learning Competition to recruit the best 75 students for a Data Science bootcamp, with opportunity to win N1 million through participation in Kaggle competitions and bootcamp quizzes.

DSN prides itself of building the largest network of data science mentors worldwide through its through its #MentorAfricanDataScientists programme, through which Nigerian students are mentored by international data scientists. In its eighteen months of operation, DSN has incubated four data science concepts which are being tested for real world applications.

DSN, further claimed its positioned to solve social/business problems and galvanize data science knowledge revolution, which could position Nigeria to become the outsourcing hub for international Data Science/Advanced Analytics/Big Data projects, with opportunity to access at least 1 per cent share of the global big data and analytics market, valued at $150b in 2017 ($203b in 2020).

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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