We look back at 2019 and acknowledge the year had some amazing surprises and announcements from Microsoft. Especially in the Africa and Middle East region where we focus. Let’s take you through some of these exciting moments through pictures.
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Team Athena-IO from Tunisia, came in second place at the Europe Middle East and Africa Imagine Cup regional final championship qualifying round.
Microsoft opens second Policy Innovation Centre in partnership with the University of Pretoria and the South Africa Department of Science and Technology.
Upepo Technology recieves Microsoft AI for Earth grant.
Upepo Technology Company Limited, a Kenyan technology firm has become the latest recipient of Microsoft’s AI for Earth grant. The award from Microsoft is to help the company extend its innovative developments. Upepo joins 21 other Microsoft AI for Earth grantees across Africa.
Upepo Technology Company Limited provides intelligent water management solutions that support water utilities and water community associations. It also provides support to large abstractors of surface and ground water including agricultural enterprises, industries and commercial property owners to accurately measure and manage water while predicting future trends in consumption.
Microsoft’s AI for Earth program aims at empowering people and organization to solve global environmental challenges. Microsoft provides them with artificial intelligence to solve issues related to water, agriculture, biodiversity and climate change. Through grants Microsoft provides access to cloud and AI tools. As well as opportunities for education and training on AI and investments in innovative and scalable solutions.
“This important grant from Microsoft is a turning point” says Kevin Kihara, Upepo’s CEO. He also says Microsoft services such as “Azure Cloud, IoT and AI resources will help develop products to mitigate water losses“. These loses Kevin Kihara says, “directly contribute to large and excessive surface and ground water withdrawals” which are “detrimental to the supply of water for communities living downstream“.
Conserving and improving access to Kenya’s water supply
Kenya Water Service Regulatory Board (WASREB) shares that water access rates in Kenya have stood at 55% the last three years. It believes by adopting technology and enhancing infrastructure a 30% reduction in non-revenue water can be achieved by 2030. Saving up to Kes 80 billion for infrastructure expansion, enhanced supply and quality of water across Kenya.
“Through Microsoft’s AI for Earth program, we are excited to partner with Upepo. As they develop innovative intelligent solutions that will both conserve and improve critical access to Kenya’s water supply.” – Ghada Khalifa
Ghada Khalifa, Philanthropies Regional Director for Microsoft Middle East and Africa says, “In the next two decades, demand for fresh water is predicted to dramatically outpace supply.” Technologies such as the intelligent cloud and AI, Ghada says will model and measure the Earth’s water supply. To help us manage and protect fresh water.
Microsoft Philanthropies announce $1M in cash and technology grants to three innovative non-profitSouth African organisations to drive greater impact through digital transformation
Recipients of the grants are Youth Empowerment Services (YES), Peace Parks Foundation and the Sunflower Fund. Microsoft believes this “will bolster their work to respectively create employment opportunities for youth. It’ll combat wildlife crime and support conservation work. As well as advance healthcare solutions for those with Leukaemia and other life-threatening blood diseases”.
Since 2016 Microsoft philanthropies has given over $25 million in grants out to more than 2,300 South African non profits.
Microsoft’s Technology for Good
Microsoft’s Technology for Social Impact (TSI) group general manager Justin Spelhaug, shared on Microsoft’s plan. A plan to empower non-profits to achieve more through digital transformation. He said non-profits currently operate in a world of highly constrained resources. They are doing more with less and this requires changing how they work. Technology can help accelerate their missions in many ways.
“Technology is a powerful tool to help solve the world’s most challenging issues. In the same way Microsoft takes our corporate clients on the digital transformation journey, we are working with NPOs in South Africa to help them implement long-term, sustainable change in their communities. Digital technology powered by Azure has helped NPOs make smarter decisions, be more productive and communicate with one another more effectively. In the future, AI will enable NGOs to harness vast amounts of data and make breakthrough advances in areas like healthcare, agriculture, education and transportation. We’re already seeing how AI-bolstered computing can help doctors reduce medical mistakes, farmers improve yields, teachers customise instruction and researchers unlock solutions to protect our planet.” – Justin Spelhaug
Here is a closer look at what these South African Organizations are working on
Youth Empowerment Services (YES)
Microsoft and YES have partnered to bring cloud technology and access to the latest software to South African youths. Launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa on March 2018, YES is a business-led partnership with government, labour and civil society. YES aims to empower one million young South Africans by offering paid quality work experiences over the next three years.
Microsoft is investing $825,450 in a strategic software grant to equip 100 community hubs (YES centres of excellence). This comes with Office and other applications to boost employee productivity and skills development of young people. Microsoft will provide training to empower employees who will utilise Office for non-profits. They’ll also work on adapting more technologies as well as apps and service.
Peace Parks Foundation
Microsoft Philanthropies is providing the anti-poaching solutions organization a grant for its move to the cloud. Microsoft AI for Earth is also providing three grants to support various aspects of the Peace park Foundation work. These include a grant to further their Smart Parks system, using Microsoft’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) functionality to enable the transformation and integration of anti-poaching interventions. Microsoft’s artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities have been deployed to analyse images from a network of connected camera traps to enable autonomous poacher detection. There are two additional grants. One to support new work on conservation-minded agriculture, to deliver best practices via an app for farmers. That has the potential to improve yields with minimal habitat impact, speaking closely to the Foundation’s community development work. The third grant has been secured for the Tracker Academy affiliated to the SA College of Tourism. A project that aims to pair AI with indigenous knowledge of animal tracking and behaviour to train the next generation of trackers.
Sunflower Fund
The Sunflower Fund plays a critical role in recruiting blood stem cell donors to fight Leukaemia and other life-threatening blood diseases. They are leveraging the power of Microsoft’s intelligent cloud (Azure), a mobile app and AI to better engage with donors and recipients.
Justin Spelhaug says in just 18 months we reached our goal. By helping more than 90,000 nonprofit organizations digitally scale their impact and serve the public good. Our goal over the next 3 years is to reach over 300,000 nonprofits by the year 2020.
Microsoft’s cloud for public good and philanthropy grants are available to help any non profit achieve more. Read more about Microsoft’s Technology for Social Impact group and how you can benefit from the value they bring to the non-profit community.
Kenya’s student team TAWI has qualified for the 2023 Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship set to take place in May. The team emerged winners in the education category of the 2023 Imagine Cup world finals qualifying round. Beating 15 other teams to become the top-scoring team and 2023 Europe Middle East and Africa(EMEA) champions. They won USD5,000 in prizes.
Team TAWI also qualified from 48 competing global teams to be selected among the top 3 that will compete in the 2023 Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship. Where they will compete for the Imagine Cup trophy, the grand prize of USD100,000 to develop their project, and a mentoring session with Microsoft Chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella.
Team TAWI consists of Muna Said Nomy, John Onsongo Mabeya, Syntiche Musawu, Applied Computer Technology, and Zakariya Hussein, Data Science and Analytics undergraduate students of the United States International University (USIU) – Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. Their innovative solution TAWI looks to make a difference in the lives of those who struggle with auditory processing.
The home-based software leverages real-time speech recognition technology to help children with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) communicate more effectively. Instead of traditional hearing aids, TAWI uses earphones to amplify speech and cancel out background noise, making it easier for children with APD to engage in conversations and interact with others. It includes noise cancellation, sound amplification, speech-to-text conversion, and auditory training exercises.
The team will present TAWI at Microsoft Build 2023 where the Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship takes place. They will compete against the winning teams from the Americas and Asia regions. Eupnea from the United States and CS-M Tool from Thailand, both from the Health category.
Student teams, Smart Farmer and iBoost from Kenya also emerged as EMEA winners in the Earth and Lifestyle categories respectively.
Hongera to these incredible young developers and all the best to Team TAWI in the championship!🎉
University student teams from Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa are among the shortlisted finalist of the 2023 Microsoft Imagine Cup world finals. They are among 16 teams who will represent the Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region at the Microsoft Imagine Cup student technology competition.
The African teams consist of seven teams from Kenya, one from Nigeria, and one from South Africa. The remaining finalist teams from the region come from the UK, Pakistan, UAE, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The EMEA teams will be competing with 32 other finalist teams from the Americas and Asia regions. For a chance to win USD50,000 in prizes and a spot to present at the 2023 Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship.
Only three teams will make it to the next stage of the technology competition. The teams will need to get the top-scoring points in the region or category to progress to the next stage. The winning teams will get support from Microsoft mentors to prepare for the World Championship in May during Microsoft Build. Where they will win the grand prize of USD100,000 and a mentoring session with Microsoft Chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella.
African student teams have been performing exceptionally well in the technology competition that seeks to empower the next generation of creators and problem-solvers. In 2021 and for the first time in its 19-year history, an African student team from Kenya won the technology competition.
Here is a highlight of the African teams and their projects.
2023 Microsoft Imagine Cup Africa finalists
Team CAi from Kenya. Project category: Health
CAi is an AI-powered wearable device that detects seizures both prior to occurrence and in real-time and alerts caretakers. It uses the patient’s vital signs and body movements to detect seizure-like symptoms.
Team Paramount from South Africa. Project category: Earth
This system addresses the lack of participation in recycling through a gamification approach. Users earn points and badges for recycling and can also use the app to identify the correct bin to use.
Team iBoost from Kenya. Project category: Lifestyle
iBoost is a smart signal amplifier that leverages Azure Machine Learning, Bing Maps platform, and a host of other Microsoft technologies to bring an end to the internet connectivity and cellular network challenges brought about by poor network coverage.
Team IBTRS from Nigeria. Project category: Lifestyle
Institution based transport system (IBTRS) is based on a shuttle management system, IBTRS uses a telegram bot and RFID system to book shuttles at an affordable price for institutions, students, and workers and maximize efficiency.
Team RIM from Kenya. Project category: Earth
RIM Energy is a Smart LPG regulator that improves safety, monitors consumption, detects gas leaks, alerts on refill, and measures carbon footprint to reduce GHG emissions in African households.
Team Score More from Kenya. Project category: Education
Udhamini web app is a platform that gives students access to a centralized repository of scholarships to make opportunities easier to find and ensure that students don’t miss deadlines.
Team Smart Farmer from Kenya. Project category: Earth
Smart Farmer aims to increase agricultural production in order to help reduce food waste using technology.
Team TAWI from Kenya. Project category: Education
Tawi is a home-based software app that helps children with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) improve their auditory skills. It includes noise cancellation, sound amplification, speech-to-text conversion, and auditory training exercises.
Team Wastestars from Kenya. Project category: Earth
Wastestars aims to design a smart waste collection system that allows citizens to choose and post the various types of solid waste they want to dispose of on the website and for garbage collectors.
