On Monday 4 July 2022, the Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation, Mr Gaspard DATONDJI, met the press. On the agenda of this meeting with media professionals was the holding, at the Palais des Congrès in Cotonou on 7, 8 and 9 July 2022, of the first edition of the Digital Entrepreneurship and Artificial Intelligence Fair (SENIA).
On Monday 4 July 2022, the Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation, Mr Gaspard DATONDJI, met the press. On the agenda of this meeting with media professionals was the holding, at the Palais des Congrès in Cotonou on 7, 8 and 9 July 2022, of the first edition of the Digital Entrepreneurship and Artificial Intelligence Fair (SENIA).
Benin is maintaining its drive towards the continuous structural transformation of its economy by relying on digital technology. To achieve this, the Government Action Programme (PAG) 2021-2026 provides for four (04) reforms and 7 major projects, with an estimated implementation cost of 346 billion CFA francs.
It is, on the one hand, with all these assets, and in recognition of what is at stake in responsibly extracting and exploiting value from data, which has meanwhile grown exponentially within national companies, and, on the other hand, with a view to positioning Benin as a leader on the African continent in entrepreneurship centred on new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, data science, blockchain and augmented reality, that the Ministry of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation decided to draw up a national strategy on big data and the development of artificial intelligence.
The Digital Entrepreneurship and Artificial Intelligence Fair (SENIA) is intended as a multi-sector event of international scope, dedicated to all national and international players in Information and Communication Technologies, digital entrepreneurship, data and Artificial Intelligence (AI); the theme of its first edition is “Digital entrepreneurship and the challenges of artificial intelligence for the socio-economic development of Africa”.
The expected outcome is to drive the development of innovative digital entrepreneurship in Benin.
The objective of SENIA during these three (03) days of meetings between players in the digital ecosystem is to promote digital entrepreneurship, with particular emphasis on the strategic socio-economic, political and ethical challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Africa and in Benin.
Specifically, SENIA will make it possible to:
- Bring together in one melting pot the main players and partners of the digital ecosystem to discuss themes related to digital entrepreneurship and Artificial Intelligence
- Present promising innovations, solutions and ideas in the digital sector
- Offer participants a business setting for professionals in the digital sector with a view to concluding technical, financial or commercial partnership agreements
- Discuss the main pillars of Benin's AI strategy with players in the ecosystem
- Pool the skills and/or innovations initiated by African and European universities, large groups, SMEs and startups.
- Reward the best innovations in the digital and artificial intelligence sector.
The programme prepared for this first edition consists of thematic panels, a keynote, B2G business meetings and networking, as well as pitch and demonstration sessions.
This event, which promotes startups in the digital ecosystem, is expected to be attended by African Ministers from the Francophone Network of Ministers in charge of the Digital Economy, representatives of regulatory authorities, international organisations, civil society and technical and financial partners, staff from the banking, finance and insurance sector, representatives of national and international incubators and accelerators, large companies specialising in digital services, digital startups in agriculture, trade, health, etc., specialist training centres and schools in the sector, internet service providers, and mobile operators.