AI: Côte d’Ivoire selects 77 priority uses and signs a public-private pact

The second national conference on artificial intelligence, IMPACT IA 2026, was held in Abidjan from 9 to 11 September. Organised by the Ministry of Digital Transition and Technological Innovation, it brought together about 200 public and private sector leaders around a simple question: what should AI be used for first in the country?

77 use cases selected

At the end of the work, participants selected 77 priority use cases in government, agriculture, health, education and public services. A pact was signed between public and private players. Minister Djibril Ouattara, who closed the conference on 11 September, announced a follow-up meeting three weeks later to adopt a common roadmap, with a budget for each of these projects.

Sovereignty claimed, foreign partners

The government is working with the French company Mistral AI and with the Ivorian subsidiary of the consultancy Artefact, which audited the national ecosystem. It nonetheless champions “technological sovereignty”, understood as the ability to choose, understand and control the tools the country depends on.

The approach is part of the 2026–2028 digital roadmap (seven pillars, 40 projects, five of them devoted to AI) and the 2026–2030 National Development Plan. Next step: pilot projects, then a measurement of their real impact.