Alfaxad Yusuf Eyembe Advances to Finals at DB-SNUbiz Startup Challenge 2023

KUAS Faculty of Engineering second-year student Alfaxad Yusufu Eyembe participated in the 2023 DB-SNUbiz Global Startup Challenge, which was organized jointly in August 2023 by DB Group and Seoul National University, South Korea. The competition “was designed to realize the dreams and ideals of challenging talented students who will lead the future, and lay the foundation for fostering higher ideals.”

Among the 300 teams participating from all over Asia, only 12 made it to the final stage where they were invited to compete for the Grand Prize in Seoul, South Korea. Being the No. 1 Finalist in Japan, Alfaxad was awarded a cash prize of $3,000 USD.

His project titled “AlfaDeep AI” explores the application of AI to use electricity efficiently at scale. Inspired by a 2014 research paper from Google DeepMind, he set out to discover how reinforcement learning (a machine learning technique) may be applied to Smart Grid Systems. In addition to existing open-source models, he built a prototype simulator that uses reinforcement learning to optimize a microgrid environment. “It is fantastic work, and I am thrilled by Alfaxad’s success,” said his supervisor Dr. Sajid Nisar.

Alfaxad commented, “It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience where I could compete with many top teams from all over Asia. I aim to use the prize money to further develop the idea, extend ways to make it more feasible, and hopefully pilot the system in microgrids here in Japan. If successful, I aim to work on the problem in the future and scale it to optimize electricity distribution and usage in Tanzania, my home country, Japan, and the world to reduce electricity costs significantly and achieve sustainable energy.”

（Tadayuki Imai, Faculty of Engineering）