The African Council on Foreign Relations Political Action Conference is an annual African international politics event that convenes African and global leaders, as well as leaders from the African diaspora, to discuss critical issues affecting Africa’s economic and political systems.
The 2025 African Council on Foreign Relations Political Action Conference will bring together experts, technology pundits, foreign policy executives, and corporate executives to share leadership experiences, gain new perspectives on trends, engage in thoughtful conversations with international peers, and exchange ideas on the ever-evolving technology competition and global technological order.
The 2025 topic is “African Innovations and the Future of the Global Technological Order.”
The global technological landscape is entering a period of heightened competition, fragmentation, and uncertainty. There will be a surge in techno-nationalism, leading to a more dangerous digital landscape. The 2025 African Council on Foreign Relations Political Action Conference will examine the significant role of African innovations in shaping the future of the global technology landscape. It will also explore the latest trends, disruptions, innovations, confrontations, and shifts shaping the future of the evolving technology landscape and international competition.
The first African Council on Foreign Relations Political Action Conference took place in September 2024.
The Challenge
The technology realm has become the new geopolitical and geostrategic frontier, where governments, corporations, and organizations that control data and computing power will impose the rules of the future international economic order. In this same vein, countries with fewer resources will be compelled to follow the rules of this order, even when they do not align with their national interests.
The 2025 African Council on Foreign Relations Political Action Conference will address the following:
- Africa lags in digital infrastructure. Many countries lack the cloud, connectivity, high-speed networks, and data centers required to handle the demands of the technology (Tamsin Mackay, 2025)
- Hun Kim, Acting Vice President of Investment Solutions at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), said: “African countries lack the backbone of cloud and connectivity, among other core infrastructure necessities, and without these, AI will remain a distant concept rather than an accessible tool. Already there’s a digital divide and AI is doubling, even tripling this, as countries without digital infrastructure risk falling even further behind.”
- Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence have become one of the foremost domains where global techno-competition is playing out every day.
Conference Objectives
The 2025 African Council on Foreign Relations Political Action Conference will examine the significant role of African innovations in shaping the future of the global technology landscape. It will also explore the latest trends, disruptions, innovations, confrontations, and shifts shaping the future of the evolving technology landscape and international competition.
Conference Theme
Theme:
African Innovations and The Future of the Global Technological Order
The 2025 ACFR Political Action Conference speakers will focus on the following topics:
Speakers will answer the following questions:
- How can African innovations reshape the global technology order?
- How can African youths develop solutions that harness data and computing power, influencing the rules of the upcoming international economic order?
- How can African innovations reshape the global technology order?
- Why Africa needs to craft a new technology leadership path for the Digital Age?
- How to Address the African tech and innovation funding shortage?
Conference Theme
Theme:
African Innovations and The Future of the Global Technological Order
The 2025 ACFR Political Action Conference speakers will focus on the following topics:
Speakers will answer the following questions:
- How can African innovations reshape the global technology order?
- How can African youths develop solutions that harness data and computing power, influencing the rules of the upcoming international economic order?
- How can African innovations reshape the global technology order?
- Why Africa needs to craft a new technology leadership path for the Digital Age?
- How to Address the African tech and innovation funding shortage?