Africa FIRST is a continent-wide data infrastructure programme building Africa's first Distributed Supercomputer and Open Data Platform. The initiative tackles a critical challenge: across Africa, data remains insufficient and costly, limiting decisions on climate change, resource security, and development.
The programme deploys purpose-built green infrastructure across eight African Partner Countries (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zambia), creating a user-friendly platform for sharing data with academia, government, and industry. Africa FIRST builds on the foundational work of the African VLBI Network Programme and Square Kilometre Array readiness initiatives.
By 2030, sub-Saharan Africa will produce 230 million jobs requiring digital skills. Development institutions estimate a $130 billion opportunity in digital skilling investment through 2030. Africa FIRST provides the data infrastructure foundation needed to seize this opportunity.
Colocation Programme
Innovation Meets Sustainability
The Colocation Programme creates revenue-generating infrastructure that supports both scientific research and commercial applications. These facilities co-locate scientific instruments with data processing infrastructure and commercial satellite ground stations, creating multi-purpose innovation hubs.
Each colocation site integrates Earth observation satellite stations, navigation system ground infrastructure, passive radar technologies, high-performance computing, and scientific instruments. By sharing infrastructure costs across multiple users, the programme achieves economies of scale while generating sustainable revenue streams.
Pilot Success & Expansion
The pilot colocation site at the Kuntunse radio telescope in Ghana demonstrates the viability of this model, successfully integrating scientific research with commercial data services. The site creates high-tech employment in radio astronomy, data administration, software development, and value-added services. Revenue generates through data services, ground station access fees, and Earth observation applications for agriculture, urban planning, and disaster response.
The colocation model now scales across the eight African Partner Countries, building a continent-wide network of innovation hubs. This sustainable business model ensures FSDA's operations continue beyond initial investment, creating long-term impact and reducing dependency on external funding.
Key Achievements & Innovation
Africa's First Distributed Supercomputer High-performance computing nodes distributed across the continent, bringing computational capability closer to researchers and reducing data transfer costs.
Green Infrastructure by Design Purpose-built for energy efficiency and autonomous operation, critical in regions where power supply can be unreliable.
Multi-Purpose Revenue Model Generates operational revenue through commercial satellite ground station services, Earth observation data products, data processing and analytics services, and training programmes.
Proven Partnership Approach Built on the established Square Kilometre Array African Partner Countries network, leveraging existing relationships and technical expertise across eight nations.
Skills Development at Scale Creates employment and training in radio astronomy, satellite operations, data science, software development, and value-added services.
Technical Capabilities
Data Platform: Open-access architecture for academic and government users, commercial-tier data products, API integration, secure protocols, ML and AI-ready infrastructure.
Ground Station Network: Multiple satellite constellation support, real-time data processing, redundant systems, weather monitoring integration, disaster response capability.
Computing Infrastructure: Distributed processing across multiple nodes, cloud-compatible architecture, scalable storage, green computing principles, remote operation.
