The Datasphere Initiative is pleased to announce that the African Development Bank has joined the Datasphere Initiative as an in-kind technical project partner. The organizations will join forces to drive the new Africa Forum on Sandboxes for Data.
The African Development Bank spurs sustainable economic development and social progress in its regional member countries. By mobilizing and allocating resources for investment and providing policy advice and technical assistance to support development efforts, the Bank Group works to promote poverty reduction across Africa.
Launched on July 12, 2023, at the Africa Law Tech Festival in Nairobi, the Africa Forum will convene leaders in government, industry, academia, civil society, and the technical community, to build a pan-African community to enable innovative cross-border data governance solutions. Funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the multistakeholder process will invite local, regional, and global experts to explore the ways in which regulatory and operational sandboxes could facilitate responsible unlocking of the value of data for all.
“Policies and technical solutions that responsibly enable cross-border data flows are central to extending the scale and scope of value creation at an economic but also a social level. We are pleased to count on the support of the African Development Bank which plays an important role across the continent in addressing this,” said Justin Bryant, Lead, Global Sandboxes for Data, Datasphere Initiative.
The Datasphere Initiative and African Development Bank will collaborate to leverage the know-how of regional policymakers in Africa and support efforts to build a platform that brings local, regional, and global experts together to enable peer-to-peer learning on new ways to support data exchange and help foster collaborative processes and evaluate regulatory frameworks. The Forum will convene sectoral working groups on health, AI, and finance with the African Development Bank leading a working group to explore how regulatory and operational sandboxes can encourage fintech innovation and preserve financial system integrity.
“Sandboxes offer a platform for innovation to thrive. As these initiatives take root in the continent, we stand to benefit from tailored regulations matching our local context and knowledge sharing, which are essential to address pressing social challenges from finance to healthcare. Together, it’s a collective leap forward,” said Uyoyo Edosio Principal ICT and Innovation Expert at the African Development Bank
- Read more about the Datasphere Initiative Africa Forum on Sandboxes for Data and enroll in the new online course on Sandboxes for Data here
- Read more about the African Development Bank here
- Read more about the African Development Bank Sandbox Report here
- Read more about the Datasphere Initiative here
