A new home for transformative digital innovation

With the cut of the ribbon pinned across a doorway decorated in the green and white of the Upanzi Network logo, the Digital Experience Center was officially launched on April 1.

Located at Carnegie Mellon University Africa, the center is a new space to physically showcase projects and technologies developed in support of the Upanzi Network's goal to advance the digital transformation of Africa.

Visitors to the center move through eight stages, each with their own stations for live demonstrations illustrating innovations that contribute to a key component of digital transformation.

Guests are introduced in the first stage to the Upanzi Network and the fictional "Upanzi Land" in which the technologies are implemented for the demonstrations. By the last stage, they will have seen how digital ID could be used to streamline citizens' access to services, how open source financial platforms could be used for banking, how cybersecurity and cyber resilience can be prioritized in tandem with digital innovation, and more. So far, the center has hosted more than 170 visitors. 

The displays highlight outputs of research being conducted at the main Upanzi Lab at CMU-Africa. The Upanzi Network, launched in 2021 with the support of the Gates Foundation, consists of CMU-Africa's lead lab as well as partner engineering labs at Al Akhawayn University in Morocco, the University of Botswana, and University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in South Africa.

A major goal of the Upanzi Network is to develop, refine, and put into practice openly accessible resources called digital public infrastructures and digital public goods (DPI/DPGs). Many projects exhibited in the Digital Experience Center are examples of DPI/DPGs being actively researched and implemented by Upanzi Network members—relevant to everything from finance to public health—with the intention to contribute to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

One project presented at the center opening, for instance, focused on the use of machine learning to help diagnose malaria and birth asphyxia and streamline radiology reporting while integrating information into existing hospital IT systems. These efforts support SDG 3, seeking good health and well-being. 

Likewise, measures to build infrastructures for connectivity across the continent, including rural areas and refugee camps—which support SDG 9 for industry, innovation, and infrastructure—were showcased. 

At the Digital Experience Center, people can see the potential and progress of these initiatives firsthand, providing an avenue for public accessibility to Upanzi-led research and fostering increased trust in the Upanzi Network as innovators and advisors for digital technologies in Africa. 

Yet there's another important role for the center: serving as a space for conversation between Upanzi Network researchers and visitors such as government, industry, and academic leaders, potentially sparking powerful partnerships and collaborations. Such possibilities demonstrate the Digital Experience Center's value as a hub to inspire and empower innovation for Africa's digital ecosystem.