New AI Innovation Hub Opens in Tunisia in Partnership with NVIDIA

A new AI innovation hub for developers across Tunisia was launched today at Novation City, a technology park designed to cultivate a vibrant and innovative ecosystem in mechatronics — a sector encompassing IT, mechanics, and electronics — and to strengthen synergies between education, research, and industry in the North African nation.

Built in collaboration with NVIDIA's Deep Learning Institute (DLI), the hub provides the training, technologies, and business networks needed to help drive AI adoption across the continent.

Ambitious Goals and Advanced Training

The hub launch is part of NVIDIA's efforts to train 100,000 developers across Africa through DLI over the next three years — a goal that has been approximately one-quarter completed to date.

Located in Sousse — a coastal city in central Tunisia surrounded by universities, startups, and other institutions with a strong focus on STEM and AI — the hub includes free access to NVIDIA DLI courses on topics such as generative AI, accelerated computing, and data science.

Novation City's Role and Resources

Through its centers of excellence in AI, Industry 4.0, and smart transportation, Novation City provides cutting-edge resources and access to NVIDIA DGX infrastructure for AI startups and researchers. Novation City also hosts organized activities to drive ecosystem growth, such as hackathons and specialized training sessions. All of this comes together in this new environment conducive to learning, experimenting with, and deploying AI.

"Novation City has launched several key AI initiatives to strengthen the ecosystem, and NVIDIA's support has been instrumental in empowering AI startups and advancing AI skills," said Anas Rochdi, Chief Innovation Officer at Novation City. "This year, we deployed Tunisia's first NVIDIA DGX system and launched major academic initiatives in collaboration with NVIDIA DLI, aiming to train over 1,000 developers in one year."

Novation City also runs several startup acceleration programs, and more than 10 participating companies are members of NVIDIA Inception, a free program that nurtures cutting-edge startups.

Tunisia Leads Innovation in STEM Education and AI

Tunisia's education system has traditionally focused on STEM fields, particularly mathematics and science, according to Wei Xiao, who leads NVIDIA's developer relations team for startups, enterprises, and universities in the Middle East and Africa.

"Tunisia has a rich history of valuing knowledge and scholarship, dating back to ancient Carthage and the Islamic Golden Age. The country's curriculum is rigorous, creating a solid foundation for advanced studies in STEM fields," Xiao added.

This has made the country — which is well-positioned to serve as a gateway between Europe, Africa, and the Middle East (EMEA) — a thriving ecosystem for innovation, entrepreneurship, and research. Novation City and NVIDIA aim to further strengthen this ecosystem through the new AI Innovation Hub.

The initiative, which enhances collaboration among academia, industry, and government, is funded by French and German development agencies, the Tunisian government, the World Bank, the European Union, and several companies.

The hub comes at a time when Tunisia has adopted a national strategy for AI and digitization — which includes strengthening AI education and research — as part of a broader vision to position the country as a digital leader in Africa. For example, the University of Tunis launched the country's first public AI-specialized institute this month.

Strengthening Sovereign AI and Partnerships

A key part of sovereign AI is a nation's ability to produce AI using its own workforce — along with its infrastructure, data, and business networks. The free DLI training provided through Tunisia's AI Innovation Hub is expected to enable exactly that, helping to upskill the next generation of African AI experts.

Additionally, Novation City already offers a wide range of facilities designed to support technological and scientific advancement.

In February, Novation City deployed an NVIDIA DGX system, among the first in Africa, which has enabled about 30 startups across the continent in climate AI, transportation, manufacturing, agritech, and other industries to develop accelerated computing-based solutions.

Furthermore, ESPRIT University — a specialized university in Tunisia with more than 10,000 engineering students — boasts nine NVIDIA DLI ambassadors who provide training to students and contribute to the broader technology ecosystem across the country. This makes ESPRIT one of the most active DLI organizations in the EMEA region.

Since 2018, ESPRIT has been leveraging DLI to enhance AI education. The university has also acquired an NVIDIA DGX system to support research and product development.

Expansion Across Africa

NVIDIA has planned similar AI education initiatives in Kenya and Nigeria to further develop and strengthen African technology ecosystems.

Source: NVIDIA Newsroom Author: NVIDIA Corporate Communications