Johannesburg - The non-profit organisation Empire Partner Foundation and the Africa Technopreneurs have partnered to harness and invest in the next generation of Extended Reality (XR) technology creators in Africa.
Extended Reality (XR) refers to an umbrella term used for Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality, as well as all future realities such technology might bring.
The foundation will this weekend collaborate with African Technopreneurs in hosting an AR/VR Africa hackathon, seeking to develop extended reality (XR) solutions to societal challenges.
Developers, programmers, UI/UX designers, artists, animators, storytellers, professionals and students interested in participating in the hackathon can register for the opportunity to share their innovative work in AR/VR.
So far, participants at the 48 hour hackathon have been drawn from 16 African countries, and will converge in select cities as they develop XR solutions across healthcare, education, business applications, tourism and social impact verticals.
Mikhail Mariemuthu, the Empire Partner Foundation senior manager, said: “The Empire Partner Foundation is excited and keen to support African Technoprenures in co-hosting their hackathon at our headquarters.
“We believe in innovation and using new technology that can be applied to creating more solutions to address South Africa's social challenges”.
Winners will be announced at prize-giving ceremonies, with in-country winners receiving up to $1,500 in prize money, and an overall African prize of $10,000.
“This year’s program is a continuation of IMISI 3D’s XR talent acceleration initiatives on the continent and is organized in partnership with Meta, BlackRhinoVR, and our AR/VR Africa Country Partners in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Uganda,” said Daliso Ngoma, managing director, African Technopreneurs.
“We as African Technopreneurs believe in the future we can build together, that is why we have partnered with Empire Partner Foundation to be part of a solution to solve pertinent socioeconomic challenges we face.”