At the end of September, Kigali became a meeting place for leading scientists, young researchers and industry representatives from all over the world: The 2nd International African Conference on Machine Learning, Optimization and Applications (MLOA2025), chaired by Dr. rer. nat. habil. Abebe Geletu W. Selassie, holder of the Research Chair of Mathematics and its Application at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Rwanda, and Prof. Pu Li, Head of Process Optimization at TU Ilmenau, focused on the latest developments and applications in machine learning and optimization.
Research
Focus on machine learning: Conference in Rwanda discusses applications in mathematics and AI
How can machine learning models be made even more precise and reliable and used responsibly for real problems and challenges in Europe and on the African continent? To find answers to this question, the conference offered a wealth of sessions and keynotes by renowned scientists, including Prof. Boris Mordukhovich, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Wayne State University and winner of the Lanchester Prize 2025, and Prof. Lars Grüne, Professor and Head of the Chair of Applied Mathematics at the University of Bayreuth and SIAM Fellow 2025. The conference was opened by Prof. Blaise Tchapnda, Academic Director of AIMS Rwanda.
Researchers and doctoral students from Ilmenau also took the opportunity to present their own projects and exchange ideas with international experts. The work presented ranged from intelligent model-predictive control systems, reliable deep learning and real-time modeling with physics-informed neural networks to applications in agriculture and environmental modeling.
The second day of the conference focused on the question of how machine learning and optimization can be applied to address pressing challenges on the African continent. "Discussions on sustainable energy, robotics and practical applications made it clear that machine learning has long since left the laboratory and is having a direct impact on society," said Prof. Pu Li.
The Ilmenau scientist was particularly impressed by the commitment of young African scientists:
Many were working with great enthusiasm to develop AI solutions for local challenges - such as optimizing the fuel consumption of vehicles on the hilly roads of Rwanda using data-driven methods.
The biggest challenge here is often the availability of precise data, which has to be generated with the help of modern sensor technology and image processing.
However, it is precisely here, as well as in the area of PhDs, that there are valuable starting points for joint research and future cooperation between Africa and Europe.
MLOA2025 was therefore not only a forum for scientific exchange, but also a platform that laid the foundation for new, cross-border partnerships. Kibremoges Fenta, scientist at the AIMS Research and Innovation Center, summarizes:
This conference wasn’t just an academic gathering; it was a community of minds and mathematicians committed to using AI, optimization, and mathematical sciences to address the most pressing challenges and turn them into opportunities. It was a call to build impactful, ethical, and colaborative AI for Africa and beyond.
MLOA2025 was funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) as part of a university cooperation between Ilmenau University of Technology and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Rwanda.
Impressions
