TLDR: Cameroon has officially unveiled its comprehensive National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (SNIA), a roadmap designed to transform the nation into a leading AI hub in Africa by 2040. The strategy, built upon seven strategic pillars, aims to foster AI capacity across critical sectors, emphasizing digital sovereignty, inclusivity, and sustainable development.
Yaoundé, Cameroon – In a landmark move towards digital transformation, Cameroon officially launched its first National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (SNIA) on July 7, 2025. Unveiled by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Minette Libom Li Likeng, during the second edition of the National Consultations on AI (CONIA), this ambitious roadmap sets a long-term vision for AI integration across governance, infrastructure, education, and economic development, with the ultimate goal of positioning Cameroon as a continental leader in AI innovation by 2040.
The SNIA is rooted in principles of sovereignty, inclusiveness, and sustainability, aiming to develop solutions that resonate with African cultural realities. The strategy outlines several ambitious targets, including training 60,000 individuals, with a significant emphasis on gender equality, ensuring 40 percent of trainees are women. It also projects the creation of 12,000 direct jobs and an estimated contribution of 0.8 percent to 1.2 percent to the national GDP from AI-related activities. Furthermore, the plan aims to develop 12 sovereign, high-impact AI solutions tailored to local needs.
The comprehensive strategy is structured around seven interdependent strategic pillars:
1. Governance and Digital Sovereignty: This pillar focuses on establishing a robust regulatory framework, including the creation of a dedicated Cameroonian AI Authority and a Presidential Council on AI. A national AI legal framework will be developed to address ethical considerations and ensure inter-ministerial coordination.
2. Data and Digital Infrastructure: The strategy calls for the creation of a government Data Lake, mass digitization of public services, the establishment of national interoperability standards, and the implementation of an Open Data policy to facilitate large-scale AI deployment.
3. Multilingual and Inclusive AI: Recognizing Cameroon’s rich linguistic diversity, this pillar aims to develop a sovereign large language model, tentatively named ‘GPT Cameroon,’ to support local and national languages. This initiative will involve extensive voice data collection and linguistic research to enhance language representation in digital technologies.
4. Sovereign Technological Infrastructure: To ensure energy-resilient AI processing across all regions, the strategy includes the deployment of 15 edge computing nodes, powered by solar microgrids.
5. Human Capital and Research: Cameroon plans to significantly boost its human capital by training 4,000 people annually. The strategy also includes establishing five national AI centers of excellence, implementing programs to attract diaspora talent back to the country, and strengthening national research capacities.
6. Innovation and Sectoral Use Cases: This pillar aims to foster the adoption of AI across critical sectors such such as health, agriculture, education, and justice. It also seeks to boost local startups through accelerators and innovation hubs.
7. Cooperation and Regional Influence: Cameroon intends to establish an AI network for Central Africa, strengthen international partnerships, and promote the export of ‘Made in Cameroon’ digital solutions, thereby extending its influence in the regional AI landscape.
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The launch of the SNIA comes as Cameroon, according to the 2024 AI Preparedness Index by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), scores 0.34 out of 1, placing it in the lower half of global rankings. This strategy is a direct response to address these gaps and propel the nation forward in the global AI race, leveraging AI as a key lever for its digital transformation.
