Nubian | Nubian Research Contributes to Pan-African Scientific Computing Position Paper

Press ReleaseOctober 19, 2026

Nubian Research Contributes to Pan-African Scientific Computing Position Paper

Led by the Science for Africa Foundation, Nairobi, Kenya, the initiative examines research computing capacity and identifies practical pathways for improving access across Africa.

At the convening, researchers and practitioners interpreted the findings and shaped recommendations for the position paper, Mapping Scientific Computing to Power Research, Big Data, and AI in Africa: Evidence and Pathways for a Federated Ecosystem.The paper draws on a mapping exercise that received 118 institutional submissions across 28 African countries, with 67 retained for analysis. The findings revealed an average scientific computing readiness of 40.1% among participating institutions, highlighting gaps in computing capacity, connectivity, software, technical expertise, and operational sustainability.Represented by the Executive Director, Mosadoluwa Fasasi, Nubian Research emphasized the need to explore practical alternatives while the continent continues working towards building and owning more of its computing infrastructure.Rather than waiting for every institution to acquire and maintain expensive computing systems, we advocated for making existing resources more visible, accessible, and shareable. Our contributions focused on infrastructure-as-a-service models, service catalogues, shared GPU pools, and appropriately scaled solutions that institutions can realistically sustain.These approaches do not replace the need for long-term infrastructure investment. They offer ways for researchers to access the resources they need today while that larger work continues.This contribution builds on Nubian Research's ongoing efforts to make research infrastructure more accessible, including our partnership with NuNet to explore decentralised computing access for researchers.We appreciate the Science for Africa Foundation for leading this effort and the colleagues across the continent who contributed their expertise.Read the full position paper.