Source: universityworldnews.com by Wagdy Sawahel 04 February 2021
Algeria has announced its first national strategy for research and innovation in artificial intelligence (AI), aimed at building a society of innovation and a generation of digitally skilled citizens.
The strategy aims to “improve Algerian skills in AI through education, training and research and to strengthen these capacities as a tool for development,” Abdelbaki Benziane, the minister of higher education and scientific research, said.
Speaking at the launching conference on 18 January, the minister added that this would also enable socio-economic sectors to “iron out the obstacles hindering the digital transition underway”.
Professor Mokhtar Sellami, the director in charge of science, technology and innovation at the National Council for Scientific Research and Technologies (CNRST), which is a new institution placed under the supervision of the Prime Minister, Abdelaziz Djerad, told University World News that the AI strategy will encourage graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to develop applications in bioinformatics.
Applications for big data, machine learning, autonomous systems, computer vision and intelligent decision support systems for socio-economic sectors are also envisioned.
The strategy further includes support to AI start-ups for innovation, he said.
“In education, AI strategy begins with raising awareness of AI and pushing to develop programme training and apprenticeships, including aspects to fight inequalities in capacity training,” said Sellami, who was previously in charge of technological development and innovation at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Algeria
He pointed out one particular action: the setting up of two new institutions for data and AI.
Implementation challenges
Algerian scientist Mahieddine Djoudi, professor of computer sciences at the University of Poitiers in France, told University World News that the strategy should focus primarily on generalising the teaching of AI in the various courses of education on under- and post-graduate levels.
Djoudi said: “Besides the contribution of AI to the improvement of human learning through techniques of learning analytics, the strategy must focus on developing partnership relations with the socio-economic sector.”
He is a member of the programme committee for the second international Conference on Artificial Intelligence and its Applications (AIAP’21) to be held in Algeria next in September 2021.
Djoudi said the implementation of the strategy will face several obstacles.
They include “the poor quality of the current computer park and the delay in the introduction of digital technology in society along with the total absence of the culture of AI in Algerian society and, more particularly, in the university”.
He suggested that the process of integrating information technology into society should be accelerated. The same applied to the introduction of digital technology in the various sectors.
“The media must participate in the popularisation of AI in high schools, the public service and the private sector,” he added, emphasising that workstations, high-performance computing centres, internet networks and cloud computing must be established.
Algeria ranked 118th out of 172 countries in the 2020 Artificial Intelligence Readiness Index.
Among the 10 Arab African countries, Algeria ranked fourth after Egypt (56), Tunisia (69) and Morocco (99).
The index, issued by global consulting firm Oxford Insights and the International Development Research Centre, measures the extent of governments’ willingness to use AI technologies by assessing their governance, infrastructure and data, skills and education, and government and public services.
Universities play fundamental role
“The role of universities is fundamental in overhauling programmes and content, and launching new multidisciplinary research projects where AI has a predominant place,” Djoudi said.
Professor Bouraoui Seyfallah of the University of Science and Technology in Houari Boumediene told University World News that AI has become the survival kit of smart societies.
“Algerian universities should set short-, medium- and long-term objectives to democratise AI by introducing advanced techniques including deep learning, data mining, computer vision and image understanding along with fake news detection into almost all key sectors, including the socio-economic sector,” Seyfallah said.
He is the lead author of the conference paper “Artificial Intelligence facing COVID-19 pandemic for decision support in Algeria”.
Seyfallah believes Algerian universities must also contribute to enhance students’ skills.
Applied research as well as promoting innovations, trends, concerns, and practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted in the AI fields should also be supported.
Moreover, universities should help to bridge the gap between the AI research community and people from the industry or those who work in other research areas, including smart cities, big data, cloud computing, social networks and energy, he said.
