Dr Abdigani Diriye
Judge
Dr Abdigani Diriye is a Research Manager at Amazon where he leads the development and deployment of novel voice technology for Alexa. D. Diriye previously co-founded Innovate Ventures, the leading start-up accelerator and technology fund in Somalia. To date Innovate Ventures has invested in more than 15 start-ups. Dr Diriye has held research positions in industry and academia for some of the largest companies and institutions such as Amazon, IBM, Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University, and previously sat on World Economic Forum’s Council on Innovation and Ecosystems.
Dr Diriye has published over 40 papers and patents in leading scientific outlets, and holds a PhD in computer science from University College London and an Executive MBA from INSEAD. Dr Diriye is a TED Fellow and a Next Einstein Forum Fellow. He has been listed amongst the top 100 economic leaders in Africa in 2021 by Institut Choiseul, top 30 African Innovators by Quartz in 2018, and one of the world’s top 35 innovators under 35 by MIT Technology Review. His work has been featured in Forbes, Wired, Technology Review, Quartz, BBC Radio, CNN and Fast Company.