Uniting for Africa’s Digital Public Infrastructure Future

November 4–6 2025 | Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town, South Africa

In an era where digital access defines opportunity, the Global DPI Summit 2025 lands at a pivotal moment for the African continent and the wider global community. Under the banner “DPI in Practice: Implementing Tomorrow’s Digital Society Today,” this gathering brings together governments, technologists, civil society, funders and innovators to chart the next chapter of digital public infrastructure (DPI).

Why it matters

Digital Public Infrastructure — encompassing digital identity systems, interoperable payments, data-sharing platforms and open standards — is now recognised as foundational for inclusive service delivery, economic growth and digital sovereignty. According to the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD):

“Digital public infrastructure (DPI) is a key foundation for public service delivery, public sector efficiency and the broader digital economy.”
OECD

But for many African countries, the digital divide remains wide: less than 40 % of the population is online in some regions, connectivity and energy infrastructure remain uneven, technical skills are in short supply and local governance frameworks often lag. Carnegie Endowment

This Summit is thus more than a conference: it is a catalyst — a space where vision turns into action, where policy meets practice, and where African leadership meets global partnerships.

Key themes shaping the Summit

Among the six focal themes guiding the Summit are:

• Inclusion & Accessibility — ensuring DPI closes, rather than widens, the digital divide.
• Trust, Security & Safeguards — embedding people-centred protections and accountability into DPI systems.
• Interoperability & Open Standards — enabling systems to operate across sectors and borders, avoiding silos.
• Local Innovation & Ownership — building capacity, talent and ownership within countries for sustainable digital futures.
• Collaborative Governance & Partnerships — co-creating policy, infrastructure and ecosystem dynamics across government, private sector and civil society.
• Tangible Impact & SDG Acceleration — ensuring DPI delivers measurable improvements in education, health, finance, and public services.

These themes reflect a comprehensive vision — not merely of technology deployment, but of equitable, ethical, enabling digital systems rooted in local contexts and global collaboration.

What to expect

Over the three days in Cape Town, participants will engage in:

• Keynote addresses by global DPI and digital-transformation leaders
• Panel discussions spotlighting real-world implementations and sector use-cases
• Interactive workshops and deep-dive sessions on architecture, governance, open-standards and use-cases
• Exhibition zones showcasing innovations, platforms and service models
• Networking opportunities to form cross-sector and cross-regional partnerships

The event site describes the Summit as a “dynamic platform for knowledge sharing and collaboration to advance countries’ DPI journey.” Global DPI Summit

Why Africa’s moment

For Africa, this Summit has special significance. The continent hosts a young population, burgeoning innovation ecosystems, and rising interest in digital economy transformation. At the same time, unique challenges worth addressing — from connectivity and energy to regulatory frameworks and youth inclusion — remain. Carnegie Endowment

By hosting the Global DPI Summit in Cape Town, the continent sends a strong message: Africa is not just a recipient of digital infrastructure — it’s a driver of it. Local ownership, capacity-building and innovation are central to this narrative.

Implications for stakeholders

• Governments & policy-makers: Opportunity to benchmark DPI strategies, explore governance and safeguard mechanisms, and engage in peer learning across countries.
• Private sector & innovators: A platform to showcase solutions, collaborate with governments and civil society, and understand market needs in DPI adoption and scaling.
• Civil society & academia: A chance to influence how DPI is designed so that it remains human-centred, inclusive and rights-respecting.
• Funders & development partners: A venue to align investments with emerging standards, share risk, and maximise the impact of DPI on the SDGs.

What to watch for

• Announcements of new DPI country-led initiatives in Africa, especially joint public-private models.
• Advances in open-source platforms, open-standards and interoperability frameworks as enablers for reuse and scale.
• Deeper integration of DPI with sectors such as health, education, agriculture and financial inclusion — moving from infrastructure to service impact.
• Governance and safeguarding frameworks emerging around data, privacy, algorithmic fairness, and ethical use of DPI platforms.
• Models of local innovation and ownership — showcasing how countries are designing DPI to reflect their needs, talent, languages and contexts.

As the world accelerates toward digital transformation, the Global DPI Summit 2025 comes at a defining moment. For Africa, for governments, for citizens and for the global development community, the question is no longer whether DPI matters — but how we build it right, how we build it together, and how we ensure it delivers freedom, fairness and opportunity.

We look forward to seeing Cape Town become the stage where tomorrow’s digital society is mapped, debated and advanced.

Stay tuned to dpi.Africa.com for exclusive updates, interviews, and coverage of the Global DPI Summit 2025 — where the world gathers to power the next chapter of Africa’s digital transformation.