Solomon Assefa is Director of Research Strategy and Growth Initiatives for IBM Research - Africa. He was honored by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader; was named one of the World’s Top Young Innovators under 35 and received the world’s top 35 innovators under the age of 35 awarded by MIT’s Technology Review. He is also the recipient of the Technical Accomplishment Award, Corporate Recognition Award and several Invention Achievement Awards from IBM. He has published extensively and has filed over forty patents.