Kenya, Italy hand 130 African startups keys to AI revolution

Kenya's Special Envoy on Technology, Ambassador Philip Thigo, speaks at the Nairobi AI Forum where 120 African innovators secured compute access. [Bernard Orwongo, Standard]

Kenya and Italy have granted computer access to 130 African innovators, positioning Nairobi at the centre of the continent's artificial intelligence revolution.

The Nairobi AI Forum 2026, organised with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), convened over 500 participants on February 9-10 and comes ahead of the Italy-Africa Summit in Ethiopia and the AI Impact Summit in India.