More than 150 University of Johannesburg (UJ) students developed AI-driven solutions to real-world problems at the AI for Africa Hackathon Challenge, held recently at Vodacom World in Johannesburg.
The hackathon forms part of an extended partnership between Vodacom, UJ and Amazon Web Services (AWS), giving students an opportunity to develop AI-driven solutions to real-world problems across maternal health, community safety, gender-based violence and femicide, youth employment, accessibility and inclusion, water security and agriculture.
Students presented their solutions to a panel of judges, demonstrating how AI could be applied to the problem statements set for the challenge. Three projects were selected as top performers.
The winning project, Mzansi Farmer AI, addressed climate and production risks, market access and value chain inefficiencies, and digital infrastructure barriers. Its dashboard brings together climate and market information, while AI generates recommendations to support farmers' informed decision-making alongside their own experience.
The solution accommodates different levels of connectivity, from a full dashboard to USSD access for farmers without internet connectivity.
Students developed AI-powered application prototypes ranging from education-based student assistants to pregnancy health and risk-monitoring tools, GBV panic button solutions, AI farming applications and solutions addressing community challenges.
AWS provided access to cloud, data and AI technologies, as well as computing resources that enable students and researchers to experiment with, build and test solutions.
Charlotte Kepadisa, managing executive of big data, AI and robotic process automation at Vodacom Group, said: "The first project launched as part of this partnership focused on UJ students pursuing their master's degree within the university's Centre for Applied Data Science.
"Building Africa's AI capabilities requires investment in people as well as technology," Kepadisa said.
Professor Stella Bvuma, director of the School of Consumer Intelligence and Information Systems at UJ, told ITWeb that the AI components were designed to provide personalised guidance, identify potential risks and generate relevant recommendations.
"This industry-academic collaboration is important because it exposes students to technologies and problem-solving approaches used in professional environments, helping bridge the gap between classroom learning and industry expectations," said Bvuma.
Dione Gwara, a first-year student studying business IT, said: "I chose to attend this hackathon as I now have additional coding experience as a baseline and I'm looking forward to showcasing my talent."
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