Nigeria has won the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom World Government Award for being the government with the most innovative small and medium enterprises (SMEs) included in its national pavilion at the ITU Telecom Awards 2017.
Nigerian fintech startup, Medsaf also won the Greatest Social Impact award of the Global SMEs Awards at the ITU Telecom Awards 2017 held in Busan, South Korea.
Continue reading Nigeria Triumphs at ITU Telecom Awards 2017
Oshi Agabi has unveiled a computer based modem-sized device – dubbed Koniku Kore capable of recognising the smell of explosives and could be used to replace traditional airport security.
The prototype of the device unveiled at the TEDGlobal conference in Tanzania is an amalgam of living neurons and silicon, with olfactory capabilities — basically sensors that can detect and recognise smells.
According to Mr. Oshi Agabi:
“You can give the neurons instructions about what to do – in our case we tell it to provide a receptor that can detect explosives.”
He envisages a future where such devices can be discreetly used at various points in airports, eliminating the need for queues to get through airport security.
As well as being used for bomb detection, the device could be used to detect illness by sensing markers of a disease in the air molecules that a patient gives off.
Koniku Kore he believes has partially solved one of the biggest challenges of harnessing biological systems – keeping the neurons alive.
While computers are better than humans at complex mathematical equations, there are many cognitive functions where the brain is much better: training a computer to recognise smells would require colossal amounts of computational power and energy, for example.
Mr. Oshi Agabi is attempting to reverse-engineer biology, which already accomplishes this function with a fraction of the power it would take a silicon-based processor.
According to him: “Biology is technology. Bio is tech. Our deep learning networks are all copying the brain.”
He launched his start-up Koniku over a year ago, has raised $1 million (£800,000) in funding and claims it is already making profits of $10 million in deals with the security industry.
Advances in neuroscience, bioengineering and computer science means that much more is known about how the human brain works than ever before.
This is fuelling the development of neuro-technology – devices that aim to mould the brain into computers.
Established by Technology Africa, the Titans of Tech Awards is a platform where the most influential players in West African ICT markets interact for the purpose of exchanging ideas and positively influencing and promoting ICT agenda for the optimal good.
The Titans of Tech award held at the Oriental Hotel in Victoria Island Lagos, recognizes stakeholders presently contributing to the advancement of technology in Nigeria.
The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) has announced its adoption of the innovative global addressing system, what3words.
Nigeria is the seventh country to adopt the module globally and third in Africa. The system is already in use for mail delivery in Mongolia, Sint Maarten, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Tonga and Solomon Islands.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) of Nigeria has approved a new policy that bars foreign professionals from practising in Nigeria unless they were registered and certified by all the necessary regulatory bodies.
This is even as the Federal Government has declared a state of emergency on science and technology to boost technological acquisition for the industrial growth of the country.
Bamidele Adetayo and Suleiman Nadabo, have developed a free TV, movie streaming web app, Entertale to give TV audience in Africa and the world quality experiences.
According to Mr. Bamidele Adetayo:
“It allows users to watch multiple live TV stations for free. The story of Entertale begins due to lack for African valued TV contents to enable people connect with what are happenings and watch movies and TV shows with friends they are already connected with. The App which is set for launch later in the month does not require monthly subscription, and the live channels would comprise international and African TV stations.”
Also speaking, the co-founder, Mr. Suleiman Nadabo said that in the app is a feature called “Co-Play’’, which give users the options to watch movies they rented with friends irrespective of location.
In his statements:
“Using the App is like watching television in an alternate reality where you do not recognise any of the shows, while evolving a new space that has been lacking in the African entertainment industry. “Cord cutting” might be getting another kin but this time it is driven with a social experience – a free service that mimic the cable box with Internet channels instead of traditional ones and cinematic experience. The app is still in its web versions where much of the content comes from YouTube; in its movie model cases, Entertale also makes direct content deals with big independent studios to access their latest library.”
A team of seven students, who represented Nigeria (Team Nigeria) in the maiden edition of the FIRST Global Robotics Olympiad (GRO) in Washington DC, U.S. have emerged victorious with their impressive performance.
The team sponsored by Faysal Jarmakani came third out of 41 African countries that participated in the competition and ranked 25th out of 162 countries. They also got two other awards.
FIRST is the acronym of ‘For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology’ and the goal of the competition is to expose students to collaborate on techniques to solve global problems.
Continue reading Team Nigeria Emerge Victorious At 2017 FIRST Global Robotics Olympiad