ECA Debuts AI Innovation Café at 15th Africa Internet Governance Forum in Accra

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) inaugurated its first Innovation Café during the 15th Africa Internet Governance Forum in Accra, Ghana, according to the organisation. The forum took place at the Labadi Beach Hotel between 2 and 5 November 2026, and the Café was held under the theme of advancing sustainable development through African artificial intelligence solutions.

Organised in partnership with the International Telecommunication Union and Research ICT Africa, the session selected five ventures from an applicant pool of 835 submissions across the continent. According to the ECA, the showcased technologies addressed critical public-sector and market challenges, spanning healthcare administration, transport monitoring, agriculture, and workflow automation. The presentations included CoreHealth, a Nigerian ecosystem combining clinical dictation with electronic health records, and DevisionX, an Egyptian platform providing sovereign computer vision and document intelligence for regulated sectors.

Delegates also examined AI Barabara, a Kenyan computer-vision system that assesses road conditions to guide maintenance spending, and Cameroon's AgricFresh, which links smallholders to buyers while deploying solar cold storage. Robert Lisinge, director of the ECA’s Technology, Innovation, Connectivity and Infrastructure Division, stated that the event aimed to connect grassroots African innovation with policymaking to foster tangible development outcomes. Multidisciplinary panels provided commercial and regulatory feedback to help each team refine deployment strategies.

What it means

Connecting domestic software developers directly with regional policymakers enables African nations to align artificial intelligence deployments with pressing developmental needs rather than relying exclusively on imported models.