Avinash Meetoo

Let us build a Smart Mauritius together

Computing

My thoughts on Cloud Native Strategies for Mauritian Businesses during Developers Conference 2024

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On 18 July 2024, I was on a panel on “Cloud Native Strategies for Mauritian Businesses” during Developers Conference 2024 organised by the Mauritius Software Craftsmanship Community at the Caudan Arts Centre.

My other panel members were Dawid van der Merwe, Solutions Architect at SUSE, Viv Padayatchy, Managing Director of Cybernaptics, Delphine Bissessur, Head of Digital at a Mauritian bank, Dhaneshwar Damry, Founder & CEO of Bhumishq and the panel was moderated by Ish Sookun, one of the co-organisers, together with Jochen Kirstätter, of Developers Conference 2024.

I spoke about the most significant technological advancements that Mauritius needs to focus on in the next five years to stay competitive. While I am in favour of always pursuing the latest trends, I also understand, given my experience in policy-making, that the fundamentals need to be right for a country to prosper. There are key areas where the education system in Mauritius needs to evolve to better prepare students for the demands of the IT industry. And, as a whole, the population needs to become more innovative. This is not only a question of policy.

I also shared some thoughts about whether Mauritius has the potential to position itself as a major cloud-native expert and solutions provider to African companies in the coming years. I think Mauritius has an important role to play but we will have to better understand the African countries, their people and the problems that need to be solved.

The important role of Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education

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On Friday 28 June 2024, I made a presentation during a symposium on “Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Prospects, Policies and Possibilities” organised by the Mauritius Institute of Education with participants from St Mary’s University in London and the University of Eswatini, in the context of the launch of MIE’s UNESCO Chair in Higher Education.

I focussed on what Artificial Intelligence really is (and is not) and, explained that in the process of coming up with a strategic plan for AI in Higher Education, one should make it coherent with the existing Mauritius Artificial Intelligence Strategy, written six years ago by a group of professionals (of which I was part) with a very specific intent in mind: create a smarter Mauritius.

The gist of my speech was on the fact that Higher Education has a key role to play in order for Mauritius to achieve Vision 2030 and for the country to become high-income, inclusive and green. One way to do that, which was well received by the audience of MIE senior management and staff, is to build an AI assistant for all teachers and students based on the formidable amount of content and knowledge MIE had collected over the years. I also argued that MIE could be one of the main coordinators in a much-needed inter-institution working group on AI in Education. Mauritius needs more first-rate professionals and education is key!

I would like to say a big thank you to the organisers and the audience. Special thanks to Dr Jayantee Naugah, Dr Hemant Bessoondyal, Dr Hyleen Mariaye, Dr Waaiza Udhin and Dr Avinash Oojorah. I really enjoyed making this presentation and I hope it will inspire some people.

ElectionsMauritius.com: Why? How? And the way forward.

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On Friday 3 May 2024, to celebrate the World Press Freedom Day 2024 of the United Nations, students in Communications and Journalism at the University of Mauritius in collaboration with Christina Meetoo organised a seminar on “Building Stronger and More Exciting Journalism for Mauritius”.

During the seminar, Christina and I made a joint presentation on one of our collaborative projects, ElectionsMauritius.com. This website was launched in 2014 during the general elections, was updated in 2019 and is in need of being revamped for the upcoming elections of 2024. The websites shows all constituencies, parties, candidates and their online presence (website, social network accounts, photos, etc.) The website, which has been working for ten years now without interruption, has a substantial number of visitors and this number is increasing on a daily basis.

Christina and I encouraged the students to contribute to ElectionsMauritius.com by supplying data on nomination day and on the day the results are released. We also asked the audience what kind of additional features and information they would like to have on the website. People mentioned fact-checking of what is being said by candidates as well as tracking of proposals made in electoral programmes. Both are very interesting.

During the seminar, we had a great presentation by Khalil Cassimally, the Head of Audience Insights at The Conversation as well as talks and videos by past winners of the Africa Fact-Checking Awards. We also enjoyed a video on the history of the press in Mauritius by a past student. A big thank you to the organisers and the audience. I really enjoyed making a presentation with Christina at the University of Mauritius.

(Bravo to Lloyd Lallmamode, Jatin Ramlowat, Vivek Bhunjun, Vanshika Pochun, Mansha Deenoo, Preetish Kishto, Diksha Caulleechurn, Joomun Taysiir, Lorynia Potage, Amanda Elizabeth and Amtul Kafee Taujoo, all of them currently students in Communications and Journalism.)