The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has selected two new Centres of African Excellence in Kenya and Ghana, focusing on applied and responsible artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainable infrastructure. Announced in October 2026, the centres will bring together German and African higher education institutions to strengthen research, teaching, academic training and knowledge transfer in both fields. 

According to the DAAD announcement, the Centre for Applied and Responsible AI in Kenya will receive approximately EUR 4.2 million until the end of 2031, including EUR 2.3 million from the Federal Foreign Office and nearly EUR 1.9 million from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. The centre in Ghana will receive approximately EUR 2.3 million from the Federal Foreign Office. 

In Kenya, the Applied and Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Society and Environment (ARAISE) centre will be established by the University of Tübingen in partnership with Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, the Kenya Medical Research Institute and Maseno University. Its activities will focus on AI applications in environmental monitoring, geodata, public health and social inclusion. Planned measures include joint German-Kenyan research groups and Master's-level teaching and training programmes on responsible AI. 

In Ghana, the Technical University of Munich and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology will establish the LandGAPPS centre, focusing on land governance, participatory spatial planning and sustainable infrastructure. Activities will include joint curricula, doctoral support and academic mobility. 

The two centres will form part of the DAAD's Centres of African Excellence programme, which supports long-term institutional cooperation between African and German universities, including postgraduate education, research collaboration and the development of academic networks.