CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA — 17 August 2026 — The South African AI Affiliation (SAAIA) has launched Activate SA to champion Accountable AI in South Africa, authorities and society as a part of the brand new Western Cape AI Cluster (WCAIC).
Activate SA goals to help and develop the Synthetic Intelligence (AI) alternative within the province whereas partaking related stakeholders on key themes together with AI Coverage, AI Governance, AI Infrastructure funding, AI Factories and Sovereign AI.
The primary version of the Activate SA AI Summit opens on 25 August on the Cape City Worldwide Conference Centre (CTICC), Cape City. The summit varieties a part of the flagship ecosystem help programme carried out by the Western Cape Division of Financial Improvement and Tourism (DEDAT).
Activate SA seeks to strengthen the province’s AI ecosystem and play a task in advancing the AI expertise sector to create an impactful and sustainable AI ecosystem.
Dr Nick Bradshaw, Chairman of the SA AI Affiliation, said:
“The Activate SA AI Summit would be the annual gathering of the newly created WCAIC with the ambition to strengthen AI innovation and unlock funding alternatives throughout the quickly rising world Synthetic Intelligence tech phase. We see USA, China, Europe and Center East already spending closely on AI as they gear up enterprise, residents and society to embrace the AI alternative. Activate SA is a model new AI Summit being held in Cape City that may discover this large alternative, showcase the very best of regional AI innovation and assist appeal to funding.
Activate SA and the WCAIC challenge is a multi-stakeholder car geared to establish and obtain frequent targets in a collaborative method and assist place the Western Cape as a globally vital AI Tech Hub whereas serving because the nation’s first authorities & societal AI discussion board devoted to Accountable AI.”
Bradshaw concluded:
“Sovereign AI is an enormous theme the WCAIC will interact on. It’s a globally vital problem for nations, provinces, cities & municipalities to develop, deploy and govern AI programs independently. Our purpose is to additionally showcase new AI entrepreneurs, new AI infrastructure improvements and fashions that may profit everybody, not only a few. Citizen AI is a brand new and evolving element the place on a regular basis issues confronted by society are being solved by folks utilizing AI to develop the answer themselves. We need to discover the brightest minds fixing the toughest issues and match them to early-stage help, capital and AI compute providers. Finally we need to develop a provincial “success blueprint” different provinces can utilise throughout South Africa and sit up for welcoming delegates to the Activate SA.”
In regards to the SA AI Affiliation
The South African Synthetic Intelligence Affiliation (SAAIA) is an business physique targeted on selling the development of accountable AI in South Africa by uniting practitioners throughout Industrial, Authorities, Tutorial, Startup and NGO sectors.
SAAIA seeks to encourage stakeholders within the adoption of accountable AI for the business and societal advantage of the residents of South Africa with a main give attention to financial progress, commerce, funding, equality and inclusivity.
SAAIA runs Africa’s largest Enterprise & Startup AI group and commerce occasion, AI Expo Africa, and presents insights and advisory on the rising AI alternative in Africa.
Study extra: www.saaiassociation.co.za
About Activate SA
Activate SA 2026 is the nation’s first AI Summit devoted to Accountable AI in Authorities and Society.
This landmark AI occasion will discover how South Africa as a nation can harness AI to enhance service supply, training, and the on a regular basis lives of its residents, whereas establishing the insurance policies, infrastructure, investments and frameworks wanted for moral AI adoption and financial progress.
Convened by the SA AI Affiliation from 25–27 August at CTICC Cape City, Activate SA 2026 focuses on 10 core matters addressing the challenges and alternatives required to make Accountable AI accessible to all and features a hands-on CPD workshop masking AI Readiness, AI Coverage, AI Manufacturing unit and AI Centre of Excellence.
Study extra: www.activatesa.ai
