In this inaugural Research Award, DSA funded 10 research projects for one year with anticipated further support for the top performing projects in the second year. The DSA Research Award 2020 provided access to resources limiting research productivity in Africa with a focus on Machine Learning research.

The overall objective of the African AI Research Awards (AAIRA) 2022 - 2024 was to catalyse the responsible development and scaling of AI innovations that solve development challenges and build the talent and capacity that support the local design, development, and deployment of responsible AI4D innovations at an appropriate scale.