Africa : IDRC to catalyze the ecosystem of AI innovators through research grants

16 février 2022

In 2020, IDRC and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) launched the Artificial Intelligence for Development in Africa (IAPD Africa) program. This program aims to support the AI community and policymakers in developing responsible, ethical, and equitable AI that meets the continent’s challenges, under the leadership of Africa.

IDRC, the International Development Research Centre, was established in Canada in 1970 with a mission “to initiate, encourage, support and conduct research into the problems of the developing regions of the world and into the application of scientific, technical and other knowledge for the economic and social advancement of those regions . IDRC sees climate change and inequality, combined with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, as major obstacles to achieving the UN’s sustainable development goals, and it is these challenges that it helps to address. While the center is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, its five regional offices are located in India, Jordan, Kenya, Senegal, and Uruguay to be as close as possible to the researchers and projects it funds.

The IAPD Africa program or AI4D Africa initiative

Artificial intelligence can have a huge impact on the development of Africa: a better education system, the creation of businesses, improved nutrition… But it can also accentuate social inequalities and prejudices, including perpetuating gender inequalities and threatening jobs, and facilitating oppressive government surveillance.

To develop responsible and inclusive AI in Africa, IDRC and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency launched the Artificial Intelligence for Development in Africa (IAPD Africa) program in 2020. This four-year, C$20 million partnership promotes excellence in applied research as well as in the application of AI technologies to solve development problems and improve the livelihoods of people living in poverty.

The AI4D Africa initiative is built on three pillars of activity:

policy research to promote and support responsible AI,
Support responsible innovation to address Africa’s development challenges,
amplify African talent to develop and deploy responsible AI.

It has established multidisciplinary labs to strengthen research at African public universities, and set up fellowships to support the next generation of PhDs, post-docs, and early career scholars focused on responsible AI, and ensures that African women and language minorities have equal rights to access them.

Call for proposals for AI4D Africa 2022 Fellowships

These fellowships aim to enhance doctoral training in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in sub-Saharan Africa. The African Center for Technology Studies (ACTS) has received a grant from IDRC and SIDA to support the training of doctoral students in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) as well as the research work of academics or early career scholars (early career and post-doc) in AI and ML. Research under this program must be within AI and focused on STEM disciplines that attempt to address one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The proposed studies should support responsible AI, an equitable gender and regional distribution will be preferred. The countries involved are: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa), Congo (Brazzaville), Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau , Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Togo

This second call, which ends on February 17, targets the following three categories of beneficiaries: