Vodacom and the University of Johannesburg (UJ), in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), have expanded their artificial intelligence (AI) partnership through the AI for Africa Hackathon Challenge, giving students practical experience in developing solutions to real-world societal challenges.
Held at Vodacom World in Johannesburg, the hackathon brought together UJ students to develop and showcase AI-driven ideas addressing education, health, maternal health, community safety, gender-based violence and femicide, youth employment, accessibility and inclusion, water security and agriculture.
The event marks the first milestone in a partnership announced in July 2026. The collaboration brings together industry, academia and cloud technology to strengthen South Africa’s pipeline of job-ready AI and data science talent.
According to Charlotte Kepadisa, Managing Executive of Big Data, AI and Robotic Process Automation at Vodacom Group, more than 150 students signed up for the hackathon. The initiative also extends the partnership’s reach beyond its initial focus on master’s students at UJ’s Centre for Applied Data Science to undergraduate and postgraduate students pursuing further education.
The challenge provided participants with a hands-on opportunity to apply their knowledge to practical problems while developing technical, business and problem-solving skills. Students also engaged with AI leaders from Vodacom and AWS, gaining exposure to the technologies and approaches shaping business and society.
Kepadisa said building Africa’s AI capabilities requires investment in people as well as technology. She highlighted the importance of practical experience in helping students develop confidence, refine their ideas and prepare for opportunities in the digital economy.
Students also described the hackathon as an opportunity to understand how classroom learning translates into real-world applications. First-year Business Information Technology student Badiswa Motsa said the experience highlighted the importance of considering not only coding but also business requirements, back-end and front-end development, and the impact a solution could have on people.
The wider partnership includes co-designed learning programmes, postgraduate research and industry mentorship through UJ’s School of Consumer Intelligence and Information Systems and its Centre for Applied Data Science.
Research initiatives include the development of autonomous AI systems that could help detect, analyse and respond to cyber threats across telecommunications networks. Further research is exploring blockchain-based approaches to digital identity management and preventing identity theft.
AWS contributes cloud, data and AI technologies, alongside computing resources that enable students and researchers to experiment with, build and test solutions.
Through the collaboration, Vodacom, UJ and AWS aim to develop a new generation of African innovators equipped with practical AI and data science skills. The hackathon adds a hands-on learning component to the partnership’s broader efforts to connect academic research, industry expertise and emerging technology opportunities across the continent.
