Panel: Bridging the Digital Divide: Accelerating Investment into African Data Centres

Africa's internet access is growing at one of the fastest paces in the world, due to the demand from both a young population and rapid urbanisation, leading to strong investment. However insufficient infrastructure investment has long stymied development across the continent, and current investments in data centres and digital infrastructure more broadly fall short of demand. This session will explore:

• How can we plug this financing gap?

• How can the continent’s national grids be strengthened to support this growing demand for data centres and is there a need for a comprehensive regulatory framework?

• What are the possible implications of rising data nationalism and data localisation on Africa’s data centre landscape?