STAFF WRITER
The National Commission on Research, Science and Technology (NCRST) will officially launch the National Artificial Intelligence Institute of Namibia on Wednesday.
The launch will be officiated by, Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Emma Theofelus and, Minister of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture, Sanet Steenkamp.
A statement released by the NCRST Chief Executive Officer Anicia Peters on Tuesday said the launch will mark a major milestone in Namibia’s efforts to strengthen national capacity in Artificial Intelligence (AI), research, innovation, skills development and responsible AI adoption.
She said the NCRST has been assigned the responsibility to establish the National AI Institute in line with Cabinet Decision on the recommendations of the Presidential Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Task Force as well as the National AI Readiness Assessment Report, the National Digital Strategy 2025–2028 and the Sixth National Development Plan (NDP6).
“The Institute will operate through four key centres: the Development Centre, focused on developing AI-enabled solutions; the Datasets Centre, dedicated to curating locally relevant Namibian datasets; the AI Innovation Centre, supporting the development and testing of AI innovations and prototypes in collaboration with ScaleUp Namibia; and the Research and Development Centre, advancing AI research and the development of locally relevant applications in socio-economic priority areas,”Peters said.
NCRST said the Institute’s flagship initiative is the AI-Ready Namibia Youth Fellowship, which is currently equipping approximately 2,000 students across Namibia’s tertiary education institutions.
It provides foundational AI knowledge and skills to prepare young Namibians to participate meaningfully in the emerging AI economy.The (NCRST) is a public enterprise established under the Research, Science and Technology Act, and governed by the Public Enterprises Governance Act.
NCRST is further responsible for determining national research priorities and developing the National Programme on Research, Science, Technology and Innovation, as well as funding research, science and technology under the National Research, Science and Technology Fund (NRSTF).
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