Smart Africa Secretariat

Smart Africa is an alliance of African governments, international organisations and private-sector partners working to accelerate digital transformation across the continent, with a secretariat based in Kigali, Rwanda, and 39 member countries. It sets continental direction on digital policy, connectivity and artificial intelligence, and delivers programmes jointly with development partners. Among these are innovation challenges such as the Innovate Africa Challenge, run with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, which identify digital and AI solutions for deployment and validation in selected member countries. Support to winners typically takes the form of deployment assistance, technical expertise and government access rather than research grants.