On 1 September 2025, partners from across Africa and Europe launched something unprecedented: a project to build Africa’s first federated biomedical imaging and AI research infrastructure. Twelve months on, we’re proud to reflect on what the AFRICAI-RI consortium has built together.
Year 1 was about laying strong foundations, across social science and stakeholder engagement, technical infrastructure, governance, and community building. We completed key milestones in all four areas, and launched an educational webinar series that has already brought five sessions to our growing community of researchers, clinicians, and partners.
As Dr Dinis Nguenha, our Scientific Coordinator at CISM, put it:
“We are building more than AI models; we are building a future where Africa drives the standards of ethical, scalable digital health.“
Year 2 is where we start putting those foundations into motion, with the federated learning platform, data collection starting in 10 SSA countries an in-person Consortium Meeting in The Gambia, and much more on the horizon.
Read the full Year 1 newsletter here.