African Tech Futures Lab FAQs

What is African Tech Futures Lab ATFL?

African Tech Futures Lab (ATFL) is a virtual institute, anchored by a global network of experts working across science, technology and policy. Through our non-residential Fellows and multidisciplinary expert teams, we produce research, convene expert working groups, and incubate solutions across energy, climate, AI and digital technology.

We bring African expertise to the forefront of research, policy, and decision-making to transform how the continent engages with emerging science and technology. Our goal is to reposition Africans as key architects of the technological changes that will shape the continent and the world.

Why was ATFL established?

Africans are too often absent when research and policy agendas are set. Important decisions are often made in Washington, Brussels, or Beijing, without sufficient input from the African experts and institutions that understand their implications for the continent.

Expertise exists across Africa and its diaspora. What is missing is the time, funding, and institutional support to pursue important questions and bring that expertise into the conversations where decisions are made.

ATFL was established to help address this gap. We provide African researchers and thinkers with the resources, connections, and institutional backing to pursue ideas that might otherwise go unexplored, and to contribute to the decisions that will shape Africa's future.

Our mission is to understand and inform how Africa shapes and is shaped by emerging science, technology, and the societal transformations they drive. We envision a world in which Africans are defining the future, not merely reacting to it.

What type of organization is ATFL?

ATFL’s work sits between academic research and conventional policy analysis, combining technical depth with an understanding of the wider political, economic, and social implications of emerging technologies. We focus primarily on producing research and developing ideas that inform policy and investment decisions, rather than implementing policies ourselves.

Our work is intended for think tanks, policy advisers, research institutions, development funders, and others working to understand and respond to technological change across Africa.

Who founded ATFL?

Rose M. Mutiso is the Founder and Executive Director of the African Tech Futures Lab. She is also the co-founder and former CEO of the Nairobi-based nonprofit Mawazo (“Ideas”) Institute, which provides doctoral research funding and professional development support to early-career African women scientists. Previously, she served as the Research Director of the Energy for Growth Hub, and as a Senior Fellow focused on energy and innovation policy in the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Senate. She currently holds joint appointments as Science Advisor to the Energy for Growth Hub and Senior Fellow of the Conceptual Investigations Unit at Stanford University.

Educated in Kenyan public schools, Rose went on to earn a BA and BE in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College and a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Her TED talks on African energy and climate futures have been viewed more than 3.6 million times, and she is a frequent contributor on these issues across major media platforms. She writes Kibao, a Substack focused on energy, climate, tech, and Africa. Learn more at www.rosemutiso.com. 

Our Work

What does ATFL do?

ATFL produces research, brings experts together, and develops new ideas to inform how emerging technologies are understood, governed, and deployed across Africa. Our work is organized around five core activities:

• Rapid-cycle analysis: Producing rigorous, timely research that combines scientific and technical understanding with practical policy guidance.

• Expert working groups: Convening African and global experts to examine important questions at the intersection of technology and society.

• Strategic communications: Bringing complex research and ideas to wider audiences to inform public understanding, policy, and investment debates.

• Decision support: Providing research and expert guidance to people and institutions making consequential decisions about emerging technologies.

• Incubating solutions: Developing and piloting promising ideas through partnerships with other organizations.

Our model enables us to organize around the questions that matter most for real-world decisions, and to respond rapidly as new challenges and opportunities emerge. 

What areas of science and technology does ATFL focus on?

ATFL's work is organized around four focus areas: Energy Futures, Climate Futures, AI & Digital Technology, and Ideas Lab.

1. Energy Futures: African countries stand at the crossroads of a global energy transformation, yet hundreds of millions still live in endemic energy poverty. We help leaders understand and navigate the deeper choices, trade-offs, and opportunities around emerging clean energy technologies to meet urgent development goals while shaping a more inclusive global energy transition. 

2. Climate Futures: Africa sits at the frontlines of climate risk, yet remains on the sidelines of decisions shaping the future of climate solutions. We help African leaders navigate climate risk and influence how climate strategies are developed, governed, and deployed across Africa and globally.

3. AI & Digital Technology: Artificial intelligence and digital transformation are rapidly reshaping economies and societies—but for whom, and on whose terms? We help African leaders, institutions, and publics cut through polarized debates to engage strategically, chart pragmatic paths forward, and build just and prosperous digital societies.

4. Ideas Lab: This is ATFL’s space for exploration, experimentation, and cross-cutting inquiry. Here, we pursue questions that don’t yet fit neatly into a single issue area, but that matter for how Africa understands and shapes technological change.

What is rapid cycle analysis?

Rapid-cycle analysis is research designed to inform policy and investment debates while they are still unfolding. Our approach combines scientific and technical depth with an understanding of the broader political, economic, and social questions surrounding emerging technologies. We draw on expertise across disciplines to examine complex issues and produce analysis that is both rigorous and relevant to ongoing decisions. 

Our research often sits between a conventional policy brief and an academic paper: more substantial than a short policy memo, but produced on a timeline that allows it to inform current debates.

What research and projects has ATFL produced?

Explore our research and ongoing projects on our Insights and Projects pages.

Our Approach 

How is ATFL different from other research organizations? 

ATFL is built around people as much as analysis. We focus on removing Africa’s most capable scientific, technical, and analytical minds from isolation and positioning them to shape decisions, norms, and outcomes at the highest levels. We identify experts and provide the time, resources, and institutional support to pursue ideas that might otherwise go unexplored.

Many African-based researchers and technical experts have limited opportunities to pursue independent work beyond the demands of their primary roles. Our network of non-residential Fellows and multidisciplinary expert teams creates space for this work, bringing together people from different institutions, disciplines, and professional backgrounds.

We combine this investment in people with a research model designed to respond to emerging questions. We work to connect African expertise with the wider research and policy arenas where technological agendas are set.

Who is ATFL’s primary audience?

Our primary audience is “influential intermediaries” – the people and institutions that inform policy and investment decisions across Africa, including policy advisers, think tanks,research organizations, advocacy groups, development funders, and philanthropies. We work at the level where ideas shape decisions, providing research and expert insight that others can draw on in their own work.

Structure & Operations

How is ATFL structured?

ATFL operates as a virtual institute, anchored by a global network of non-residential Fellows and rotating multidisciplinary expert teams, and supported by a small core team and advisory board. This flexible model allows us to draw on expertise across disciplines and respond to new developments as they emerge. For a full list of our staff, advisors, and fellows see Our Team.  

Who are ATFL's Fellows? 

ATFL's Fellows are African and global researchers, scientists, and policy experts working on emerging issues and their implications for the continent. Our Fellows bring expertise from academia, research institutions, industry, policy, and other professional backgrounds. They work across our core focus areas of energy, climate, AI, and digital technology. 

Is ATFL a nonprofit organization?

Yes. ATFL is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our work is supported through grants and partnerships that enable us to undertake research, convene experts, and develop new initiatives across energy, climate, and digital technology.