Research Focus
Reclaiming the Data Stack: Open Infrastructure for African Institutions
Why African organizations need sovereign data infrastructure — and what it takes to build it.
The sovereignty problem
Most African governments, universities, and research institutions store their most strategic data on platforms they do not own, govern by rules they did not write, and analyze with models trained on data they cannot see. This dependency is not just a procurement issue — it shapes what questions can be asked, what answers are trusted, and who profits from African data.
What sovereign infrastructure looks like
We research and prototype open, interoperable data platforms designed for African institutional realities: intermittent connectivity, mixed languages, federated governance, and limited budgets. Our work covers metadata standards, identity and consent frameworks, and the operational practices that keep such systems running long after a donor cycle ends.
Partners and pathways
We work with national statistics offices, research universities, and civic-tech organizations to move sovereign data infrastructure from concept to deployment — and to train the African engineers and data stewards who will own it for the long term.
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