U.S. State Department announces the U.S. - Africa Tech Challenge

Africa Tech Challenge US state department

The Global Engagement Center division of the United States Department of State is announcing the inaugural U.S. Africa Tech Challenge.

The U.S. – Africa Tech Challenge will seek to identify African technologies that address the issues of state and non-state disinformation and propaganda.

Dr. David Bray inaugural Director of the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center and Executive Director of Commission on Geopolitical impacts of New Technologies and Data highlighted this during this year’s East AfricaCom 2020 virtual event.

The challenge will be held in a teo-part virtual event. The first event will take place virtually in April 2021. The second event also virtual will colocate with East Africacom 11th to 12th May 2021. Up to three winners of the U.S. – Africa tech challenge will receive a total grant of up to $250,000 USD.

Dr. Bray notes that “the very technologies that allow us to communicate and relate to each other online can and will be influenced by other nations and internally. We need to think about how we actually address these challenges“.

Atlantic Council will act as implementing partners of the challenge. It is sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Global Engagement Center. It also is in partnership with, Twitter, U.S. Embassy Nairobi, the European Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IAD) and Park Advisors.