By now you know about our #SCTalks that happen on the last Wednesday of each month. This month we partner with SKA to bring you an exciting Youth In AI themed event where you will see startups pitching for a trip to SKA in the Northern Cape, an AI exhibition and hear from our great speakers.
Apply here to be one of the pitching startups. Applications close on Monday 26 June 17h00.
Our keynote speaker for the night is Simon Ratcliffe (also dubbed the barefoot astronomer) has a background in astrophysics and computer science, and is currently the technical lead for scientific computing at SKASouth Africa. He oversees the architecture and technical direction of the science processing for the MeerKAT radio telescope, currently under construction in the Karoo region of Southern Africa.
Our panel is just as amazing!
Max Kaizen is co-founder and chief intelligence officer of Treeshake, an advisory firm focussed on the profitable collision of pioneers, evolving business practice, and clean tech to hasten peaceful progress globally. Clients span through UN agencies, World Economic Forum, multinational manufacturers, to polar explorers, and pan-African mobile money startups looking to shape more radically inclusive economics.
Strategic foresight is the backbone of her interdisciplinary work. Max is a useful entrepreneurial advisor and mentor on programs like Techstars Africa, IBM Smartcamp thanks to hard-won experience starting, selling or killing her own ventures. New revenue models, positioning and pricing are her specialities. But also, being a seasoned TEDx coach, pitching.
For over a decade, she’s lectured and directed novel approaches to traditional university programs, from globalisation to post-grad program on Digital Broadcast Innovation for Rhodes University; Nomadic Marketing, and Business Acumen for Artists, at UCT Graduate School of Business. And founding partner in the Ogilvy Digital Marketing Academy. She currently teaches on financial innovation and ethnography at Duke CE. She is an activist for interoperable, open systems and accessible, safe Internet for all.
Robyn Farah’s passion is pushing hardware and tech growth to better Africa. A few ways she has achieved this so far is by starting KATO, a company which focuses on product development to solve real world problems in order to create a better world. She runs some of the most influential tech events and communities in South Africa which create exposure to and connect people who are pushing the boundaries of tech, as well as bridging the class and gender gap. Her aim is to connect inventors around the world, to show them that they can build their future. In 2016 she was listed as one of Mail&Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans and granted a Shuttleworth Flash Grant. In 2015 she was invited to be a guest lecturer at MIT and to attend the World Maker Faire in New York. She completed her Masters in Interactive Sound Installations at the Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen’s University.
Khutso Ngoasheng is the Manager for the Science Data Processor team at the SKA. This team is responsible for the intake, processing, storage of data, as well as the distribution of the data to relevant stakeholders. The team is also developing capacity to apply machine learning-driven data processing engines to the large data that is produced by the MeerKAT telescope.
Khutšo has extensive experience in developing and managing information systems. Over the years Khutšo has worked as a developer, architect, and manager, in software and infrastructure. He has worked in IT, media and financial industries before working for the SKA.
Dr Jasper Horrell works as General Manager: Science Computing and Innovation at SKA South Africa where he has worked since 2005 with a focus on development of MeerKAT, the 64-dish SKA precursor telescope being built in the Karoo, and also on the design of the future SKA. The teams he works with focus both on the “production side” of MeerKAT science processing and also on the research side into new algorithms and techniques. His particular technical interest in recent times is in machine learning applied to radio astronomy signal processing for a better understanding of the radio frequency interference environment and as a tool to assist in new discovery. He is also co-founder of a Cape Town machine learning and data analytics startup, Deep Data, which is focused on real time video analytics and alerting for security, wildlife monitoring and production environments.
See more about the event and book your ticket here here