MIIA May 2017 News Letter

Posted May 15, 2017

Dear MIIA community,

The MIIA community is growing at a rapid rate! We have currently 1050+ members and followers registered across MIIA’s channels. This just shows again the significant interest that we currently have across all disciplines and industries in Machine Intelligence, AI and Data Science and its applications. MIIA’s aim is helping to transform Africa through an innovative community and accelerator for Machine Intelligence and Data Science Research and Applications. We aim to achieve this by networking together the critical mass of resources, promote and sponsor learning activities, and strengthen scientific and technological excellence, mentoring and collaboration on the continent. A core focus of MIIA’s activities is to accelerate and deliver breakthrough Machine Intelligence and Data Science research and practical applications to solve African problems, support entrepreneurial activity, and help drive long-term inclusive and sustainable scientific, technological and socio-economic development on the continent. We have just started on this journey last year by not only growing the community here in South Africa, but also other countries in Africa such as Nigeria, Kenia, Rwanda, and Sudan.

In follow-up to our successful MIIA events in Cape Town as well as Sandton (thanks to our sponsors CiTi, Barclays, Equinox Events, and Cortex Logic), see LinkedIn post for updates and resources in this regard: Deep Learning applications, platforms, limitations and quantum computing or the MIIA blog. See also more details below.

Herewith some updates about some upcoming and recent events:

Upcoming Events

Television interview shoot on Monday 22 May 2017 (to be broadcasted some time in June 2017)
- MIIA will also be represented on Television show: Winslyn – a biztech show on kykNET/DSTV (channel 144), which focus on business, entrepreneurship, economics and broadcast live every Tuesday evening at 22h00.
Barclays Techstars on 24 May 2017
- Mentorday with Techstars: Wednesday 24th & Company lookbook at Barclays Rise (Woodstock Exchange)
Far Ventures’ “How AI impacts industries” presentation and panel discussion on Thursday 25 May at 6pm
- MIIA will also be represented at this panel discussion (hosted by Far Ventures on how Artificial Intelligence can disrupt industries. More about this event in follow-up communication. For more details see:
  - https://www.facebook.com/events/2282787705278703/
  - https://www.quicket.co.za/events/28216-far-ventures-talks-1-how-can-artificial-intelligence-disrupt-industries/#/
- The event will be a panel discussion with the following speakers:
  - Jacques Ludik, Founder & President of the Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA) / Founder & CEO of @CortexLogic / CTO Bennit.ai
  - Antoine Paillusseau, Co-Founder @FinChatBot
  - Alex Conway, CTO @NumberBoost
  - Ryan Falkenberg, Co-CEO Clevva
  - Daniel Schwartzkopff, Co-Founder DataProphet
- Note that the venue of this event might move to the same one as the Botcon Africa 2017 event – see details below.
Botcon Africa 2017 on Thursday 25 May (during the day)
- Botcon Africa is a full-day conference focused purely on conversational interfaces, machine learning and AI. The event explores the technologies that are behind the best global bots through featured talks and workshops by leaders and innovators in the field. Alongside expanding the knowledge-base of participants, BotCon Africa is an opportunity for connecting with the leading practitioners in conversational interfaces.
- You can see more by visiting www.botconafrica.com or on facebook.com/botconafrica or twitter @botcon_africa
AI / Data Science Hackathon – June/July 2017
- Since our first announcement of this event, we have received significant interest from the MIIA community to participate in this event.
- Our organizing committee that also includes Alex Conway and Lianne du Toit is working hard behind the scenes to helping organize our first AI / Data Science Hackathon. We currently have a well-defined data science problem with 3 categories of solutions (predictive, interactive, and journalism) and some relevant data sets. We are in process of finding sponsors for a Cape Town based event. We are currently aiming for Saturday 10 June 2017, but might have to move this out. As soon as we have that locked down, we’ll have some further communications in this regard.
- The good news is that we already have IBM SA that is willing to be a sponsor for our Joburg-based MIIA events and hackathons.
- As we plan to host these hackathons in Cape Town, Joburg and other parts of Africa, anyone interested to participate or sponsor these events are welcome to email us at info@machineintelligenceafrica.org. Please also specify the location that is relevant for you.
MIIA Meetups in Cape Town and Sandton – June/July/August 2017
- Anyone interested to present or demo on Machine Intelligence, AI, and Data Science related topics is welcome to send us an email at info@machineintelligenceafrica.org.
Deep Learning Indaba – September 2017
- We are also excited about the Google sponsored Deep Learning Indaba event in Johannesburg from 11-15 September: http://www.deeplearningindaba.com/.
- To apply, see http://www.deeplearningindaba.com/apply.html
- Key Dates:
  - Applications: 17 April – 31 May 2017
  - Acceptance notification: 15 June 2017
  - Registration opens: 15 June 2017

Past Events

- MIIA was also represented at Exponential Africa on Thursday 11 May 2017
  - Link to presentation is available on request at info@machineintelligenceafrica.org
- MIIA Meetup in Sandton on Thursday 11 May 2017
  - Link to presentations, demos, videos, and photos are available below.
- MIIA Meetup in Cape Town on Wednesday 3 May 2017
  - Link to presentations, demos, videos, and photos are available below.

MIIA Introductory documentation

MIIA Introductory presentation (May 2017):
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxzNs-HspAzYck1SMlhPMWpBb28/view?usp=sharing
MIIA Introductory document (May 2017):
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxzNs-HspAzYdC1zSTNVUGZoU0k/view?usp=sharing
MIIA May 2017 Newsletter (this email)
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxzNs-HspAzYR0trUGlpY2UwTTg/view?usp=sharing

Best regards

Jacques

MIIA Meetup in Cape Town on Wednesday 3 May 2017

Agenda

1. Deep Learning and its applications – Dr Jacques Ludik – MIIA, Cortex Logic, Bennit.AI

Presentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxzNs-HspAzYTnJOTGRCU19mdk0/view?usp=sharing

2. Demonstration of Deep Learning examples using Google’s TensorFlow – Dr Jacques Ludik – MIIA, Cortex Logic, Bennit.AI

Google TensorFlow
- Getting started with Tensorflow
  - https://www.tensorflow.org/get_started/get_started
  - https://www.tensorflow.org/tutorials
- Learn TensorFlow and deep learning, without a Ph.D.
  - https://cloud.google.com/blog/big-data/2017/01/learn-tensorflow-and-deep-learning-without-a-phd
- TensorFlow examples
  - https://github.com/aymericdamien/TensorFlow-Examples (MNIST)
- Introduction to Deep Neural Networks with Keras and Tensorflow
  - https://github.com/leriomaggio/deep-learning-keras-tensorflow
- Keras examples
  - https ://github.com/fchollet/keras/tree/master/examples (MNIST)
- Tensorboard
  - https://github.com/llSourcell/how_to_use_tensorboard_live
  - tensorboard –logdir=’/tmp/mnist_tutorial/’
  - http://10.0.0.15:6006
- Tensorflow Playground
  - http://playground.tensorflow.org
Convolution Neural Networks
Deep Reinforcement Learning
- Flappy Bird – Deep Reinforcement Learning (Deep Q-Network)
  - https://github.com/yenchenlin/DeepLearningFlappyBird

3. IBM Watson

– Insights from IBM’s InterConnect Conference in Las Vegas – Rikus Combrinck, Senior Data Scientist at OLSPS Analytics (M.Eng Computer Engineering)

https://hackmd.io/s/rJhIJBXk- (document format)
https://hackmd.io/p/rJhIJBXk- (slide format)

– IBM Watson discussion (including sharing experience with IBM Watson for developing Intelligent Virtual Assistants)

4. Demonstration of a state-of-the-art AI conversational system – Rikus Combrinck, Senior Data Scientist at OLSPS Analytics (M.Eng Computer Engineering)

https://hackmd.io/s/r1XJkBmy- (document format)
https://hackmd.io/p/r1XJkBmy- (slide format)

Registration via the MIIA Meetup – Cape Town:

https://www.meetup.com/Machine-Intelligence-Institute-of-Africa/events/239077538/

Venue: CiTi, Bandwidth Barn, Block B, 3rd Floor, Woodstock Exchange, 66-68 Albert Road, Woodstock, Cape Town

Sponsors: CiTi, Cortex Logic

MIIA Meetup in Sandton on Thursday 11 May 2017

Agenda

1. Deep Learning and its applications – Dr Jacques Ludik – MIIA, Cortex Logic, Bennit.AI

Presentation

2. Demonstration of Deep Learning examples using Google’s TensorFlow – Dr Jacques Ludik – MIIA, Cortex Logic, Bennit.AI

3. IBM Watson

– Insights from IBM’s InterConnect Conference in Las Vegas – Rikus Combrinck, Senior Data Scientist at OLSPS Analytics (M.Eng Computer Engineering)

https://hackmd.io/s/SJr4CR-e- (document format)
https://hackmd.io/p/SJr4CR-e- (slide format)

– IBM Watson discussion (including sharing experience with IBM Watson for developing Intelligent Virtual Assistants)

4. Demonstration of a state-of-the-art AI conversational system – Rikus Combrinck, Senior Data Scientist at OLSPS Analytics (M.Eng Computer Engineering)

https://hackmd.io/s/r1XJkBmy- (document format)
https://hackmd.io/p/r1XJkBmy- (slide format)

Registration via the MIIA Meetup – Jhb/Pta:

https://www.meetup.com/Machine-Intelligence-Institute-of-Africa-Jhb-Pta/events/239078147/

Venue: Equinox, 15 Alice Lane, Absa Capital, North Building, Sandton, Gauteng, South Africa

Sponsors: Barclays Equinox Events, Cortex Logic

Photos of both MIIA events: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1185064868289550&type=3

“How can AI disrupt industries?” Panel Discussion – 25 May at 6pm in Cape Town (Far-ventures)

MIIA will also be represented at this panel discussion (hosted by Far Ventures on how Artificial Intelligence can disrupt industries. More about this event in follow-up communication.

For more details see:

The event will be a panel discussion with the following speakers:

Jacques Ludik, Founder & President of the Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA) / Founder & CEO of @CortexLogic / CTO Bennit.ai
Antoine Paillusseau, Co-Founder @FinChatBot
Alex Conway, CTO @NumberBoost
Ryan Falkenberg, Co-CEO Clevva
Daniel Schwartzkopff, Co-Founder DataProphet

MIIA AI / Data Science Hackathon – June/July 2017

MIIA also plans to host an AI / Data Science Hackathon during June/July 2017 time frame. Anyone interested to participate is welcome to email us at info@machineintelligenceafrica.org. More about this event in follow-up communication.