From capacity building to deployed solutions – the story of Data Science Africa

Advances in data science and artificial intelligence are behind some of the most impressive technological breakthroughs of our time. While the progress has been impressive, we need to increase the number of AI applications designed and built by Africans themselves to solve local challenges. It is against this backdrop that Data Science Africa was formed four years ago with the aim of building capacity in data science and artificial intelligence on the African continent. Since 2015, DSA has held capacity building events in six Eastern and Western African countries. As a result of a partnership with ARM, we have been able to expose participants to the entire data science pipeline including data collection, analysis, and visualisation. Through the DSA young scholars program, we are also promoting the deployment of real world solutions by DSA participants. This poster describes DSA and highlights the real world solutions developed by DSA participants in environmental conservation.