The African law tech festival is on and will run virtually from 5-9 July 2021.
Basically, the Africa Law Tech festival is about the confluence of Law and Technology in Africa and this year’s theme is Digital Policy for Economic Growth. The theme is inspired by the rapid growth of the tech policy landscape on the continent and the desire to build back better post-covid
The sessions run from 2pm (Nairobi, GMT +3) or 12 Noon (Nigeria) 1pm South African Time. This year’s edition is Hybrid, with daytime Masterclasses taking place on zoom, Evening Panels on twitter spaces and After-work Fireside chats and Dance workout on Zoom, and virtual networking sessions on Clubhouse. In-person networking sessions are scheduled in Ghana and Kenya.
In the year 2020, the Lawyers Hub Kenya convened over 1200 delegates from 20+ countries, with 48 sessions over 6 days at the inaugural version of the Festival.
“The conference resulted in rapid tech solutions under the Global Legal Hackathon and policy briefs for the African Continent on Artificial Intelligence, Digital Identity and Data Governance, Tech and Migration, and Taxing the Digital Economy. Delegates left with fresh perspectives, experiences, and networks,” said the Lawyers hub in their invite to the conference
This year will have 6 summits with distinct sub-themes:
- Digital Access and Infrastructure
- Internet Governance and Content Moderation
- Startups and Digital Trade
- Artificial Intelligence and Ethics
- Digital Identity and Privacy
- Blockchain and Digital Currencies
The desired outcomes from the festival include:
- Digital Inclusion to make internet more affordable and accessible to spur economic growth
- Open Internet to encourage freedom of expression online with no internet shutdowns that limit democratic rights or promote digital authoritarianism
- Ease of doing business for tech startups and new businesses, digital tax, and any internet taxes should be well thought through to promote innovation and small businesses.
- Intellectual Property be beneficial for access to vaccines for Africa and have Artists and creatives financially benefit from their craft.
- Privacy for citizens, let people have the choice to keep or share their digital identities.
Powered by Lawyers Hub, this year sponsoring partners that include; the Kenya Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, Omidyar Network, Safaricom, Amnesty International Kenya, Mozilla, ICANN, International Commission of Jurists (Kenya), APC, Internews, CIPESA, and Tony Blair Institute are welcome.
“We expect 2000+ Lawyers and 200 technologists to attend the festival from across the continent. Certificates will be issued to delegates who attend all the masterclasses by the Africa Digital Policy Institute,” said Lawyers Hub
“All festival updates and free registration is available on www.africalawtech.com/festival After Registration, you will receive a link to the schedule, masterclasses and information on prizes for our various challenges. If you are a student on Instagram or Tiktok, we have a reels challenge for you geared towards communicating inclusive digital policy to your government or fellow citizens,” read another part