AI meets African creativity: universities and industry shape a new digital future

Date Released: Tue, 11 November 2025 11:40 +0200

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping how the world creates, connects, and does business – and Africa’s creative industries are no exception. At the recent African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Conference, hosted by Makerere University in Uganda, artists, academics, and innovators gathered to explore how AI can unlock new possibilities for creative economies across the continent.

Held under the theme “Research, Innovation and Artificial Intelligence for Africa’s Transformation,” the three-day event marked ARUA’s tenth anniversary and brought together some of Africa’s leading thinkers on technology and development.

One of the most dynamic sessions came from the ARUA/The Guild Cluster of Research Excellence (CoRE) in Creative Economies – co-led by Rhodes University, King’s College London, and the University of Lagos. The session, “AI and the Creative Economy,” examined how universities can help shape an inclusive, AI-driven future for Africa’s cultural and creative sectors.

From classrooms to creators’ studios

Chaired by Dr Anthony Tibaingana of Makerere University’s College of Business and Management Sciences, the session showcased how higher education institutions are moving beyond theory to drive real-world creative innovation. Makerere’s own UniPod, for example, is a vibrant innovation hub that gives young creatives access to makerspaces, design labs, and even a professional music and podcast studio; proof that African universities can be engines of creative production.

Rhodes University’s Professor of Economics and Chief Research Strategist at the South African Cultural Observatory (SACO), Jen Snowball, presented a paper titled “Creative Economies in Africa, AI and Higher Education,” highlighting how universities can equip young people with the skills needed in the fast-evolving digital creative economy. Drawing on South Africa’s pioneering Visual Special Effects training programme, she showed how targeted education can open new career pathways in the creative tech space.

Professor Mohammed Aminu Sanda from the University of Ghana added another layer to the conversation with his presentation on reimagining creative curricula for an AI-oriented future, ensuring that graduates are not only employable but entrepreneurial.

Building bridges between ideas and industry

The academic discussions culminated in a lively industry panel featuring Rita Ngenzi, Ivan Sewajje, and Amanda Gowa from the Africa Creatives Alliance (ACA), a pan-African network working to connect and strengthen the continent’s fragmented creative industries. Their work with MoTIV, East Africa’s largest makerspace and creative hub, exemplifies how collaboration and shared infrastructure can help ideas grow into thriving enterprises.

MoTIV’s “Design to Industry” initiative, for instance, enables young designers to turn creative concepts into market-ready products – a model that blends artistry with manufacturing, training, and entrepreneurship.

The bigger picture

The “AI and Creative Economies” session revealed a shared vision: a future where African creativity and artificial intelligence grow hand in hand. By connecting universities, innovators, and industry leaders, initiatives like this are laying the groundwork for an AI-savvy generation of African creators, capable not only of adapting to global shifts but of shaping them.

As Rhodes University and its partners continue to drive this collaboration, one thing is clear: Africa’s creative economy isn’t waiting for the future. It’s building it.

Source:Communications