Sophia, the 1st humanoid robot confirmed for Transform Africa Summit 2019, Kigali, Rwanda

KIGALI, Rwanda, 2019-May-08 — /EPR Network/ — Sophia, the first humanoid robot, is scheduled to address the 5th Transform Africa Summit to be held in Kigali, Rwanda from the 14th to the 17th of May 2019.

The summit is running under the theme “Boosting Africa’s Digital Economy” and Sophia is expected to headline discussions around artificial intelligence and the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Sophia is a citizen of Saudi Arabia and a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Ambassador. She has the ability to see, follow faces, sustain eye contact, and recognize individuals. She can also process speech, have conversations using a natural language subsystem and she can walk.

On November 21, 2017 Sophia was named the United Nations Development Programme’s first-ever Innovation Champion.

The summit will host high profile speakers and panellists including Smart Africa’s Director General Lacina Koné, World Bank Vice President Makhtar Diop, Mozilla Chief Innovation Officer Katharina Bochert, AfDB President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Regional Director Cynthia Samuel – Olonjuwon among others.

The summit will also host several Heads of State, Ministers from across Africa, captains of industry, innovators and thought leaders within the ICT space.

The Government of Kenya will launch Africa’s Digital Economy blueprint during the summit.

About the Transform Africa Summit

The Transform Africa Summit is the Smart Africa’s flagship event. Following four successful editions, the fifth Transform Africa Summit will take place in Kigali from 14^th  – 17^th May 2019.

Under the theme “Boosting Africa’s Digital Economy”, the Summit is expected to attract over 4,000 participants, including Heads of State and Government, First Ladies, UN Broadband Commissioners, Ministers, African Mayors, Public & Private Sector, international organisations, industry leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, Young innovators, Civil Society and Academia.

The key summit streams for this edition include: The Smart Africa Heads of State Leaders Summit, The Smart Africa Women’s Summit, FinTech and eHealth Forums, the Smart Africa Conference and Exhibition to name a few.

This year’s summit will also feature the Transform Africa Economic Forum, a Government to Business engagement which will take place on 14^th May 2019, where attending Ministers and Cabinet Secretaries will engage with a targeted audience of business leaders and high net worth investors on investment opportunities and areas of collaboration. This economic forum will help deliver tangible results in terms of public-private partnerships, agreements and consequently, deploy investments in our respective economies.

The Summit will also feature young entrepreneurs pitching to investors (known as “Face the Gorillas”), and the third edition of the Ms Geek Africa, a competition designed to inspire African girls to be part of solving the continent’s challenges using technology.

Visit www.transformafricasummit.org to register for the summit.

 

For any enquiries please contact:

Winnie Wambugu

Chief of Marketing & Communications

Smart Africa Secretariat

comms@smartafrica.org

 

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