ATFL exists to turn African expertise into African agency
Our Mission and Vision
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 at the table defining the future—not just reacting to it.
By 2050, Africa will be home to more than a quarter of the world’s people—and the ideas that shape its future will shape everyone’s.
Yet Africans are still too often absent when the rules of the next century are written. Agendas are set in Washington, Brussels, or Beijing, then imposed onto African contexts.
This isn't a knowledge gap. African expertise exists across the continent and diaspora. It's a structural gap—a missing architecture for connecting that expertise to the rooms where decisions happen.
ATFL exists to change that. We are a network of African thinkers transforming how the continent engages with emerging science and technology across energy, climate, and digital systems. We don’t just study the future—we help Africans design it.
People are our unit of transformation
ATFL’s work doesn’t stop at analysis—it invests in the individuals who translate knowledge into influence. 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.
Through our fellows, expert teams, and partners, we connect insight to action: decoding global transformations, informing high-stakes decisions, and building a new generation of public experts who can help steer technological change toward better outcomes for Africa and the world.
We build African agency in the global tech agenda through three core functions:
Connect
Link African experts and their global peers across borders and disciplines, building a trusted, high-credibility network of thinkers and advisors.
Clarify
Deliver rigorous, objective, and actionable insights on complex issues, grounded in African contexts and priorities.
Catalyze
Inform and advise high-leverage actors who shape final decisions on policy, investment, and strategy.
ATFL addresses four structural gaps in how Africa engages with emerging technologies and global change:
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Problem: Africa lacks institutions that take a big-picture view of emerging technologies. Analysis is siloed and short-term, while decisions are distorted by complexity, polarization, and limited Africa-specific evidence.
ATFL’s Role: We provide integrative, cross-domain analysis—combining deep technical understanding with policy insight and a holistic view across sectors, disciplines, and timescales.
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Problem: Technologists often lack understanding of African contexts, while African policymakers and development actors lack the tools to assess fast-moving technologies.
ATFL’s Role: We bridge this divide—translating complexity into clear, actionable insight that decision-makers and innovators can act on.
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Problem: Africa has brilliant researchers and thinkers across the continent and diaspora. What's missing are pathways to influence: visibility, connection to decision spaces, and sustained institutional backing.
ATFL’s Role: We build those pathways—identifying emerging African voices, connecting them across borders and disciplines, and linking them to global networks where priorities are set.
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Problem: Technological change is moving faster than traditional policy cycles. African actors often react late rather than shape decisions early.
ATFL’s Role: Our agile model delivers rapid sense-making and timely guidance—helping African leaders and their partners stay ahead of fast-moving shifts.