Globally, the digital economy is increasingly becoming a critical driver of the economy with trends showing a steady increase in its contribution towards the global and individual national economies all over the world. In 2016, the digital economy accounted for 15.5% of the global GDP and is projected to reach 25% by 2026. In Africa, the digital economy is projected to contribute about 5.2% of GDP by 2025, with countries like Kenya expecting the digital economy to contribute 9.24%. As a result, several African countries are striving to put in place policies, legal frameworks, strategies and plans as well as infrastructure to help drive the digital economy and maximize the expected benefits. Furthermore, increasingly remote-based trends at work just re-emphasised the importance of the digital economy, which currently is seen as key to economic recovery from phenomena such as Covid-19.

Application of responsible digital innovation and knowledge economy for sustainable and inclusive development in Africa.

To enhance the development, deployment and adoption of responsible digital technologies for sustainable and inclusive development in Africa through capacity building, policy research and technology brokerage.

To unlock the potential of state-of-the-art digital technologies, such as 4th industrial revolution technologies, for driving the economies of African countries. The strategic objectives of the digital innovation and knowledge economy programme are to:

1. Conduct policy research in enhancing effective application of digital solutions in Africa;
2. Strengthen post-graduate training and research in responsible digital technologies in Africa for sustainable development;
3. Promote uptake, deployment and adoption of digital technologies for sustainable development;
4. Enhance the growth and financial sustainability of the digital innovation and knowledge economy programme;
5. Build the required human resource capacity for the digital innovation and knowledge economy programme.

Programme focus (Key areas)
The programme will undertake policy research, capacity building and technology brokerage on development, uptake and deployment of responsible digital solutions in the following areas: Manufacturing, health, education, agriculture, e-commerce, informal sector, water & sanitation, climate change, energy, transport & logistics, financial sector and gender and youth