This project is funded within CIVICA Research Hub call.
Africa’s digital economy is poised for substantial growth, with digital infrastructure and digital trade emerging as central components of economic transformation and integration across the continent. While several high-level political documents set the basis to establish an African digital single market, this ambitious goal requires addressing systemic challenges such as critical mineral access and processing, infrastructure gaps and reliability, the digital divide, and regulatory inconsistencies.
DigiAfrica aims to provide evidence to address these challenges through an interdisciplinary research network of political scientists, economists, legal scholars, historians, and anthropologists, which connects CIVICA partners among each other and with African academic and policy institutions. The activities proposed include three collaborative workshops, a webinar series, and a joint research proposal to be submitted under Horizon Europe (Clusters 4 and 6), in connection with broader frameworks such as the Horizon Europe Africa Initiative III (2025–2027), Global Gateway partnerships, and the Digital Global Europe instrument.
DigiAfrica aims to improve comparative and theoretical research on the political economy of Africa’s digital transformation by focusing on three related pillars: (i) digital infrastructure, that is the physical networks, software, data and regulatory frameworks that enable connectivity; (ii) critical minerals, which are the essential materials for digital technologies; and (iii) rules, governance, and digital ecosystems that shape data flows and market organization. Together, these areas provide the analytical framework through which the project explores how power, risk, and value are shared along transnational digital networks.
In the project, the African agency is placed at the centre, referring to the ability of African actors to shape, negotiate, and contest digital partnerships in line with continental, national and local ambitions. This approach allows the project to move beyond narratives of dependency, exploring how African actors shape and are shaped by the changing global structures of digital connectivity.
Upcoming events
Call for papers: Digital infrastructure, governance, and development pathways in Africa workshop, 15-16 June, 2026. Deadline for submission: 10 April, 2026.