IGF 2025 Open Forum #74 Balancing Innovation and Protection in Africa’s Data Economy

As African nations work to harness the power of data for economic growth and social development, policymakers face a critical challenge: how to strike the right balance between innovation and protection. While data-driven technologies present immense opportunities for efficiency, inclusion, and market expansion, fragmented regulatory frameworks often create barriers to progress. Businesses struggle with compliance burdens that slow digital transformation, while governments seek to enforce data protection without stifling innovation. African policymakers have a unique opportunity to develop a bespoke approach to data governance that drives local innovation, enhances public services, and fuels equitable growth while protecting privacy rights. As no global region has yet perfected the balance of policy, law, regulation, and technology to safely unlock data's benefits for all, Africa's rapid digitization - combined with initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Agreement - creates momentum for charting a unified digital market approach. The African Data Leadership Initiative (ADLI)—a peer-exchange network established by DIAL, Smart Africa, and UNECA—has been at the forefront of addressing these challenges. Bringing together data economy decision-makers from Sierra Leone, Uganda, The Gambia, and Zambia in 2024 and Ghana, Ethiopia, Somalia and Rwanda in 2025, ADLI has fostered cross-sector collaboration to shape policies that unlock data’s full potential while ensuring security, privacy, and trust. This Open Forum will feature ADLI participants sharing key insights from their peer-learning journey, reflecting on how regional and continental frameworks can support a responsible yet dynamic data ecosystem. Discussions will explore strategies for developing foundational data infrastructure, fostering public-private partnerships, and designing people-centred governance models that create trust and transparency. By focusing on both regulatory clarity and innovation-friendly policies, participants will examine how Africa can chart a path toward a unified digital market while safeguarding people's rights. With digital economies rapidly evolving, regulators must go beyond traditional compliance roles to become enablers of innovation. This session will highlight the importance of active collaboration between policymakers, businesses, and civil society in co-creating adaptable policies that keep pace with technological advancements. By interrogating lessons from ADLI’s peer-exchange network, this discussion will provide actionable insights on building an integrated data governance approach—one that promotes economic integration, drives local innovation, and ensures that the benefits of data are equitably distributed across the continent.

We will have a dedicated online moderator who will endeavour to: 1) Introduce All Speakers and share links to their contact information. 2) Prompt the participation of the online participants. 3) Monitor the chat and highlight questions from the online audience.