JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA 3rd March – South African AI Association (SAAIA)
SAAIA operated on a funded basis for the second time from 1st March 2025 to 28th February 2026. This was achieved via the amazing sponsorship from Google, Huawei and other vendors who contributed to the years funding tranche for which we are very grateful.
It should be noted, all activity undertaken by SAAIA Advisory Board and its members is on a voluntary / no-salary basis, therefore all SAAIA funding is directed towards covering the cost of outreach activities so we aim to maximise the impact and benefit to the SAAIA vision & mission of the members and wider South Africa. It was a truly busy year at both the international and regional level with some of the highlights listed below.
Notable Developments:
- Membership grew from 2513 to 4285 over the year (71% growth)
- Signed AI Factory MoU with Cassava AI
- Signed AI Collaboration MoU with Dubai Centre AI
- Hosted Western Cape Government AI Delegation at Dubai Centre AI
- Signed 3 year AI Cluster development project Western Cape Government
- Updated our FREE AI Learning Journey Resources
- Worked on the creation of Activate SA – new Government / Citizen community event
- Finalised contributions to National AI Strategy
- Explored trade collaborations with Station F Paris, UK AI & Mauritius EDBM
AB Members undertook multiple international visits including the recent AI Summit India and meetings with Nvidia in Singapore
Major International Events We Delivered:
- AI Expo Africa 2025, Johannesburg 3406 delegates (47% growth on 2024)
- Hosted DCDT DigiTech SMME & French SMME delegation at AI Expo Africa 2025
- Hosted UN ITU 1st AI for Good Impact Africa Summit, Johannesburg
- Viva Tech Paris, France
- UNITU AI4Good Summit Geneva, Switzerland
Regional & Local Events where we Exhibited or Spoke:
- SAAIA Roadshow: Western Cape Launch @AWS, Cape Town
- SAAIA Roadshow: Gauteng Launch @Google, Johannesburg
- TUT AI Seminar, Pretoria
- Pan African Data Centres Exhibition & Conference 2025, Johannesburg
- Deep Learning IndabaX South Africa, Stellenbosch
- AWS Skills Centre WCG Skills Panel Discussion
- Converge Panel on Trust in Technology
- UVU Investment Summit Cape Town
- AWS Early Stage Investment Summit
- IEEE Limpopo Outreach Event
- Coding for Mandela Limpopo Outreach Event
- 12th Regional Leadership Summit Cape Town
- Exhibited at the G20 AI Summit Cape Town
- Multiple members spoke at both the G20 AI & B20 Summits in Cape Town
Networking & Events we attended in region:
- Microsoft: Agents of AI, Johannesburg
- Microsoft AI Tour, Johannesburg
- AfricArena: State of Tech Report webinar
- AI Everything Global – Dubai, UAE
- Innov8 Networking Session: AI & Cybersecurity Impact on Investment in SA, Pretoria
- AI Action Summit – Paris, France
- Cyber Security Summit 2025, Johannesburg
- Google Cloud: Johannesburg Cloud Region Launch, Johannesburg
- The Innovation Hub: Roundtable on Innovation, Tech Hubs and Digital Skills as Drivers of Growth in Gauteng, Pretoria
- SAIMC Technical Talk, Port Elizabeth
- Global AI Summit on Africa – Rwanda, Kigali
- Impact of AI on Geopolitics: UJ, Johannesburg
- Elastic Day South Africa 2025, Johannesburg
- HPE Innovation Day, Johannesburg
- Machines Can See 2025 – Dubai, UAE
- French Embassy Invitation | AI in 2025: Perspectives for Bilateral & Global Cooperation, Pretoria
- Africa Automation Technology Fair, Johannesburg
- South African Internet Governance Forum (Online Participant)
- Converge Africa 2025, Cape Town
- Y20 South Africa Launch, Pretoria
- Crayon RoundTable with Google Cloud, Johannesburg
- Data & AI Community Day, Johannesburg
- VIVA Tech, Onboarding – Online
- TechNvst – Microsoft, Johannesburg
- Red Hat & Google Cloud, Johannesburg
- SecurEx South Africa, Johannesburg
- Agent AI Salesforce, Johannesburg
- Data to Enable the power to predict: Transport Forum, Johannesburg
- VIVA Tech 2025 – Paris, France
- Y20 South Africa Pre- Summit, Pretoria
- Microsoft AI Skilling Day, Johannesburg
- AI ZA meetup: Entelect, Johannesburg
- G20 High level Intergenerational Roundtable, Johannesburg
- Huawei Africa Connect, Johannesburg
- Analytica Lab Africa, Johannesburg
- Manufacturing Indaba, Johannesburg
- SUSE Summit 2025, Johannesburg
- Startup Act LED Research Roundtable with SALGA, Pretoria
- Start-Up 20, Johannesburg
- Global SME Ministerial Meeting, Johannesburg
- Collective X’s Decoding Demand Research, Johannesburg
- Google: AI in Action, Johannesburg
- CEM Africa, Cape Town
- GIZ AI Maturity Assessment – Webinar
- CNBC Africa: AI Summit, Johannesburg
- Cloudfare Immerse SSA 2025, Johannesburg
- Huawei & Mustek: Future of Warehousing, Johannesburg
- Y20 South Africa Summit, Johannesburg
- AWS Summit, Johannesburg
- Trailblazer Community: Salesforce (Online)
- The Business Show, Johannesburg
- OpenText Summit South Africa 2025, Johannesburg
- Tshwane Investment Summit, Pretoria
- Solcon Infinity Summit 2025, Johannesburg
- Dell Technologies Forum 2025, Johannesburg
- TUT: TETA Research Chair Seminar & Stakeholder Feedback Event, Pretoria
- ECDPM’s AI for Social Good project and Research ICT Africa’s Just AI Framework of Inquiry, Johannesburg
- Africa AI Village: G20 side event, Johannesburg
- Science Forum South Africa, Pretoria
- Brawlers AI Mixer with Acalytica, Johannesburg
- AMLD South Africa 2026 Wits: Democratize AI in Africa, Johannesburg
- India-SA AI Dialogue: Skills, Jobs & the Future of AI, Johannesburg
- NPC Post-SONA Engagement Webinar
- Accelerate with Google Cloud, Johannesburg
- AI and Us: The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, Pretoria
- Project Launch – Catalysing AI Innovation in Africa through IP, Pretoria
About the SA AI Association
Join 4000+ AI Practitioners in shaping the future of South African Responsible AI adoption & inclusivity – The South African Artificial Intelligence Association (SAAIA) is an industry body focused on promoting the advancement of responsible AI in South Africa by uniting practitioners across Commercial, Government, Academic, Startup and NGO sectors. With over 4000+ members we are the largest AI community in South Africa focused on the AI opportunity in our region. SAAIA seeks to encourage stakeholders in the adoption of responsible AI for the commercial and societal benefit of the citizens of South Africa with a primary focus on economic growth, trade, investment, equality and inclusivity. Join us for free https://saaiassociation.co.za/membership/
About the AI Media Group
The AI Media Group is a South African based industry analysis, publishing & advisory consultancy focused on the AI and smart tech sector in Africa. The group administers the South African AI Association and are the organisers of AI Expo Africa, the continent’s largest Enterprise Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) trade show. They also publish The State of AI in Africa Report and Synapse Magazine, Africa’s only AI trade magazine charting Africa’s 4.0 innovation journey. The group also runs AI TV which hosts discussions on trends in AI / deep tech technologies with local, regional and global thought leaders.
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