Africa Law Tech Festival is a 5-day annual conference that convenes stakeholders to deliberate on digital policy in Africa. Stakeholders include government, lawyers, legal technologists, civil society, corporates and development partners. This year’s festival will happen from 5th to 9th July.
This year’s festival theme is Digital Policy for Economic Growth, and is sponsored by the Lawyers Hub Kenya. The theme is inspired by the rapid growth of the tech policy landscape in Africa and the desire to build back better post-COVID-19 era.
The Festival will feature 6 summits with the following sub-themes.
- Digital Access and Infrastructure
- Internet Governance and Content Moderation
- Startups and Digital Trade
- Artificial Intelligence and Ethics
- Digital Identity and Privacy
- Blockchain and Digital Currencies
This year’s edition is Hybrid, with daytime Masterclasses taking place on zoom, Evening Panels on twitter spaces, After-work Fireside chats and Dance workouts on Zoom, and networking sessions on Clubhouse. In-person networking sessions are scheduled in Ghana and Kenya.
Sponsoring partners that include the Kenya Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, Omidyar Network, Safaricom, Amnesty International Kenya, Mozilla, ICANN, International Commission of Jurists (Kenya), APC, Internews, CIPESA and Tony Blair Institute. Over 2000 Lawyers and 200 technologists are expected to attend the festival from across Africa. Certificates will be issued to delegates who attend all the masterclasses by the Africa Digital Policy Institute.
All festival updates and free registration is available on the Africa Law Tech Festival website. After Registration, applicants will receive a link to the schedule, masterclasses and information on prizes for various challenges.
The Festival aims to achieve the following.
- Digital Inclusion to make internet more affordable and accessible to spur economic growth.
- Open Internet to encourage freedom of expression online with no internet shutdowns that limit democratic rights or promote digital authoritarianism.
- Ease of doing business for tech startups and new businesses, digital tax and any internet taxes should be well thought through to promote innovation and small businesses.
- Intellectual Property be beneficial for access to vaccines for Africa and have Artists and creatives financially benefit from their craft.
- Privacy for citizens, let people have the choice to keep or share their digital identities.