With just over two months to go, the programme for Africa Tech Festival 2026 is taking shape around the most pressing questions facing the continent’s digital economy. The 29th edition of the event returns to the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 16 to 19 November.
The gathering will bring together government officials, technology companies, telecoms operators, infrastructure providers, enterprise leaders, startups and investors from across Africa and beyond. Discussions will centre on artificial intelligence, the infrastructure required to support it, cybersecurity, connectivity and the evolving investment environment for African technology businesses.
David Monaghan, VP of Africa Tech Festival, noted that the questions facing the sector are becoming more interlinked and urgent. “It’s no longer simply about whether businesses will adopt AI, move to the cloud or invest in new infrastructure, but about how those decisions are made, who benefits from them and what needs to be in place for them to deliver sustainable growth.”
A panel titled “Beyond Adoption: What Will Make Africa an AI Producer, Not Just a Consumer?” will examine the requirements for building globally competitive AI capabilities. Other sessions will explore agentic AI in enterprise decision-making and how companies should prioritise investment across AI, cloud, data platforms and core systems.
Infrastructure will form another major focus, including the expansion of data centres, cloud capacity and local computing needed to support AI growth, alongside questions of data sovereignty and hyperscaler partnerships.
The programme is organised around six interconnected pillars: Telecoms & Connectivity, Data Centres, AI, Cybersecurity, Startups, and Digital Transformation. These reflect current investment flows and the practical challenges of scaling digital economies across the continent.
Africa Tech Festival, previously known as AfricaCom, remains one of the longest-running and most established technology events on the continent. Registration is open as organisers finalise the speaker line-up and detailed agenda ahead of the November gathering.
