AI Hackathon Africa 2025: Mauritius to Champion Continental Tech Leap

MAURITIUS is set to become a focal point for technological innovation as it hosts part of the AI Hackathon Africa 2025, an event designed to position the continent as a leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and curb reliance on closed foreign technologies.

The AI Hackathon Africa 2025 aims to foster a new generation of AI anchored in African realities, including local legal frameworks, linguistic practices, and cultural contexts, to bolster the continent’s digital sovereignty.

Key Goal: Africa as AI Standard-Setter

Veemal Gungadin, CEO of Mauritius Telecom (MT) and a Gold Sponsor of the event, stated that Africa “must not be a follower, but leader in AI,” adding that the hackathon is a “call to the young generation” ready to write the next chapter of AI history.

The event’s finale will take place on November 11th and 12th at AfricaCom in Cape Town, where the best teams from across the African hubs will present their solutions.

MT is facilitating the Mauritian involvement, offering local talent a gateway to the pan-African network of AI solution creation.

Model Context Protocol at Core of Event

Organised by The Cortex Hub, the hackathon is structured around the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a new standard intended to enable AI models to interact with external data sources while integrating African languages, cultures, and priorities.

Andile Ngcaba, founder of The Cortex Hub, emphasised the opportunity for Africa “to move from a simple consumer of AI to a creator of the standards that govern it.” Participants will program MCP servers to embed African contexts into the evolution of AI.

Continental Reach and Financial Incentives

The initiative boasts a wide continental network, with over forty hubs in African nations hosting developers, researchers, start-ups, and students.

These hubs span across Southern, Western, Central, Eastern, and Northern Africa, including countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, and Morocco.

Participating hubs, including the one in Mauritius, will offer boot camps, peer collaboration, and a range of technical resources like pedagogical materials and MCP documentation.

A total prize pool of $9,500 USD is on offer to encourage participation, with a grand prize of $5,000 USD for the best overall solution.

Other prizes include $3,500 USD for remarkable innovation and $1,000 USD for execution excellence.

Winners will also gain international exposure, presenting their work to investors and key industry players.

Source: l’Express