New AI Innovation Hub in Tunisia Drives Technological Development Throughout Africa

A brand new AI innovation hub for builders throughout Tunisia launched in the present day in Novation Metropolis, a know-how park that’s designed to domesticate a vibrant, innovation ecosystem in mechatronics — an business encompassing IT, mechanics and electronics — and to foster synergy between schooling, analysis and business within the North African nation.

Inbuilt collaboration with the NVIDIA Deep Studying Institute (DLI), the hub gives the coaching, applied sciences and enterprise networks wanted to assist drive AI adoption throughout the continent.

The hub’s launch is a part of NVIDIA’s efforts to coach 100,000 builders throughout Africa via the DLI over the subsequent three years — a objective that’s a couple of quarter full in the present day.

Situated in Sousse — a coastal metropolis in central Tunisia that’s surrounded by universities, startups and different organizations with a powerful give attention to STEM and AI — the hub contains complimentary entry to NVIDIA DLI programs on subjects comparable to generative AI, accelerated computing and knowledge science.

Via its AI, business 4.0 and sensible transport facilities of excellence, Novation Metropolis offers cutting-edge sources and entry to NVIDIA DGX infrastructure for AI startups and researchers. Novation Metropolis additionally hosts organized actions to drive ecosystem development, comparable to hackathons and specialised coaching classes. It’s all introduced collectively on this new surroundings conducive to AI studying, experimentation and deployment.

“Novation Metropolis has launched a number of key AI initiatives to strengthen the ecosystem, with NVIDIA’s help being instrumental in empowering AI startups and advancing AI abilities,” mentioned Anas Rochdi, chief innovation officer at Novation Metropolis. “This 12 months, we deployed Tunisia’s first NVIDIA DGX system and launched main tutorial initiatives in collaboration with the NVIDIA Deep Studying Institute, aiming to coach greater than 1,000 builders in a single 12 months.”

Novation Metropolis additionally runs a number of startup accelerator applications, and greater than 10 taking part firms are members of NVIDIA Inception, a free program that nurtures cutting-edge startups.

Tunisia Drives Innovation in STEM and AI Schooling

Tunisia’s schooling system has historically emphasised STEM, particularly arithmetic and the sciences, in response to Wei Xiao, who leads NVIDIA’s developer relations group for startups, enterprises and universities within the Center East and Africa.

“Tunisia has a wealthy historical past of valuing data and scholarship, courting again to historic Carthage and the Islamic Golden Age,” Xiao mentioned. “And the nation’s curriculum is rigorous, making a strong basis for superior research in STEM fields.”

This has made the nation — well-situated to function a gateway between Europe, Africa and the Center East (EMEA) — a thriving ecosystem for innovation, entrepreneurship and analysis. Novation Metropolis and NVIDIA goal to bolster the ecosystem even additional via the brand new AI innovation hub.

Fostering collaboration between academia, business and authorities, the initiative is funded by French and German improvement companies, the Tunisian authorities, the World Financial institution and the European Union, in addition to a number of enterprises.

And the hub comes at a time when Tunisia has adopted a nationwide technique for AI and digitalization — which incorporates selling AI schooling and analysis — as a part of a broader imaginative and prescient to place the nation as a digital chief in Africa. For instance, the College of Tunis this month launched the nation’s first public institute specializing in AI.

Companions Foster Sovereign AI in Tunisia and Past

A key a part of sovereign AI is a nation’s capacity to supply synthetic intelligence utilizing its personal workforce — together with its personal infrastructure, knowledge and enterprise networks. Free DLI coaching supplied via Tunisia’s AI innovation hub is poised to allow simply that, serving to upskill the subsequent era of African AI specialists.

Plus, Novation Metropolis already gives a variety of amenities designed to help technological and scientific development.

In February, Novation Metropolis deployed an NVIDIA DGX system, among the many first in Africa, that has empowered about 30 startups throughout the continent in local weather AI, transportation, manufacturing, agtech and different industries to develop accelerated computing-based options.

As well as, ESPRIT College — a specialised college in Tunisia with greater than 10,000 engineering college students — boasts 9 NVIDIA DLI ambassadors who’re delivering coaching to college students and contributing to the broader tech ecosystem throughout the nation. This makes ESPRIT College one of the vital energetic DLI organizations throughout EMEA.

Since 2018, ESPRIT has been tapping into DLI to advance AI schooling. The college has additionally acquired an NVIDIA DGX system to help analysis and product improvement.

NVIDIA has deliberate related AI schooling initiatives in Kenya and Nigeria to additional upskill and improve African know-how ecosystems.

Study extra concerning the NVIDIA Deep Studying Institute.