The Cortex Hub has launched MCP Hackathon Africa 2025, a continent-wide competition aimed at embedding African languages, culture, and priorities into artificial intelligence.

The eight-week program will run in more than 40 cities from September to November, leading to a showcase in Cape Town Nov. 11–12. Developers, startups, students, and researchers will build solutions using the Model Context Protocol, an emerging standard for locally relevant AI applications.

Innovation tracks include agriculture, fintech, telecommunications, logistics, and public services. A $9,500 prize pool will be awarded, with $5,000 going to the top project. Winners will also present at AfricaCom, one of the continent’s largest tech events.

“This is Africa’s opportunity to move from being consumers of AI to creators of the standards that govern it,” said Andile Ngcaba, patron of The Cortex Hub.

The hackathon is supported by TESPOK, Seacom, Mauritius Telecom, CSquared, Solcon Capital, and Datacentrix. Registration is open at mcp-hackathon.africa.

The Cortex Hub, based in East London, South Africa, is a nonprofit innovation hub focused on frontier technologies and inclusive innovation.