AfroGAIN is pleased to announce that our project, Digital Shadows: Extraction, Resistance, and Innovation in Africa’s Tech Futures (AfroTech), has been awarded €2,000 under the College of Business, Public Policy & Law’s Strategic Research Seed Funding Scheme. The award recognises AfroTech’s strong alignment with the scheme’s objectives: enabling future external funding applications and strengthening international research collaborations.
AfroTech investigates how value is extracted from Africa across the digital supply chain, and how communities resist and reimagine those dynamics through innovation, policy, and activism. With this seed funding, we will conduct a desk review on digital extractivism, labour, e-waste, and African digital economies; map key stakeholders; and convene a hybrid workshop with partners in Accra, Ghana. We will also begin a pilot ethnographic scoping study at e-waste sites to inform a collaborative research protocol and a concept paper for future large-scale proposals.
The project aligns closely with several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
This seed phase will position the AfroTech team to pursue major external calls, such as the ERC Starting Grant, Horizon Europe (AU–EU Innovation Agenda; Cluster 2), and IRC COALESCE, to establish a larger, interdisciplinary programme focused on digital justice and African technological futures.
We thank the College for supporting this critical initiative. We looks forward to building meaningful partnerships and sharing updates as the project develops.
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