Three-day annual congress held in Sousse, Tunisia, gathering AI practitioners, African startups, policymakers, and global technology leaders around the challenge of AI development on the African continent. Second edition scheduled for May 2026.
GAICA is an annual three-day congress dedicated to artificial intelligence in the African context, held at Novation City in Sousse, Tunisia. The event brings together AI practitioners, startup founders, policymakers, and international technology figures to address the gap between AI development globally and its application and adoption across the African continent. The first confirmed edition took place in November 2025; the second edition is scheduled for May 2026. It operates in English.
The second edition of GAICA runs from 11 to 13 May 2026 at Novation City in Sousse, Tunisia. No edition theme has been published for 2026 as of verification. Speaker listings and programme details for this edition were not available on the official website or on third-party conference platforms at the time of verification; only documentation from the 2025 edition was publicly accessible.
GAICA occupies a position in the spring window, running in May, which places it outside the dense EMEA private capital autumn cluster and ahead of the northern hemisphere summer pause. For an African-focused AI congress of this scale, the spring slot serves attendees travelling from both the African continent and from Europe or the Middle East, for whom the Tunisian coast is accessible via direct connections from major hubs. The event does not follow the private capital seasonal rhythm that governs the EMEA circuit; it operates on a technology and policy congress calendar oriented toward innovation summits and national AI strategy agendas.
The congress spans three full days. Beyond this, the specific components of the GAICA format, including the number of stages, exhibition structure, structured networking or matchmaking arrangements, and any special closed-door formats, are not publicly documented as of verification. The organiser's published description references a congress model connecting global AI figures with African startups and talent, which suggests a multi-track conference programme, but the breakdown of plenary, panel, and workshop sessions is not confirmed. No information on B2B matchmaking tools, advance scheduling systems, or official networking applications is publicly available.
The declared thematic scope of GAICA covers the following areas:
No session titles, confirmed speakers for 2026, or stage-by-stage programme has been published as of the verification date.
The organiser reports 6,000 delegates for GAICA. No breakdown by category (startups, policymakers, investors, students, international visitors) is publicly available, and no historical trend data across editions is accessible given that the first edition was held in November 2025. The international share of the delegate population, the number of exhibiting organisations, and any AUM or investment volume figures have not been disclosed.
GAICA presents itself as Africa's largest AI congress, a self-reported positioning that has not been independently verified. Its distinguishing feature, based on published descriptions, is the explicit focus on connecting international AI actors with African talent, startups, and policymakers in a single forum, rather than covering the full breadth of technology sectors. The Sousse location and the congress format (as opposed to an exhibition or trade fair) further define its character.
The congress targets four distinct populations: AI practitioners and researchers, African startup founders building AI products, policymakers working on digital and AI governance, and international figures from technology companies or research institutions with an interest in African markets. A talent dimension is also present, suggesting participation by students and early-career professionals in AI disciplines.
Several profiles are a poor fit for this event. Private equity or private debt investors with no specific mandate in African technology venture are unlikely to find the format productive; GAICA is not structured around LP and GP meeting infrastructure or fund-level deal sourcing. AI practitioners whose work is exclusively focused on North American or European deployment contexts, with no interest in African market dynamics, will find the thematic orientation misaligned. Enterprise technology buyers seeking a supplier exhibition or procurement event will find no confirmed exhibition infrastructure. Institutional allocators looking for the structured pre-scheduled bilateral meeting density of a private capital summit will not find that format here. Finally, professionals whose primary interest is in AI sectors with no startup or policy dimension, such as pure quantitative finance or defence AI, are outside the stated scope of the congress.
GAICA is an annual event. The first confirmed edition was held in November 2025. The second edition is scheduled for May 2026, which means the congress has shifted its timing within the calendar year between editions. No founding year for the organising entity is publicly available.
Novation City is a technology and innovation hub located in Sousse, Tunisia. It functions as a purpose-built space for technology events, startup activity, and digital economy programming, which makes it a natural anchor for a congress of GAICA's thematic scope. Sousse is Tunisia's second-largest city, situated on the Gulf of Hammamet approximately 140 kilometres south of Tunis, and is served by Enfidha-Hammamet International Airport as well as by road connections from Tunis-Carthage International Airport. The capacity of the Novation City venue for the GAICA format has not been disclosed.
The organiser of GAICA is based in Tunisia and operates under a commercial publisher model. The organiser's name, founding year, and portfolio of other events are not publicly disclosed on the official website or on third-party event directories as of verification. Registration and all public-facing communications are handled through the gaica.africa domain. Prospective attendees, sponsors, or media partners seeking to identify the organising entity directly should consult the official website, as no additional contact information is available from public sources.
GAICA occupies a clear and underserved position: a continental AI congress anchored in North Africa that speaks simultaneously to global technology figures and to the African startup and policy communities they rarely encounter in single-forum settings, though the thinness of publicly available programme and operational data makes independent assessment of its actual format and meeting quality difficult before the second edition takes place.
Registration for GAICA is handled through the official website at gaica.africa. Delegate pricing, sponsor rates, and any tiered access conditions for the 2026 edition are not publicly disclosed as of the verification date. No separate ticketing platform has been confirmed beyond the organiser's own website. Whether access is open to all applicants or subject to vetting criteria has not been stated in publicly available materials.
GAICA takes place at Novation City in Sousse, Tunisia. Sousse is accessible from Enfidha-Hammamet International Airport, located approximately 40 kilometres from the city centre, and from Tunis-Carthage International Airport via the A1 motorway. Rail connections from Tunis to Sousse are available. No official travel or accommodation guidance for the 2026 edition has been published as of verification.
The official language of the congress is English.
As of the verification date, the official website gaica.africa had not published speaker confirmations or a programme for the May 2026 edition. The 2025 edition page was accessible, but 2026 content was not available on the official site or on third-party conference platforms including Sessionize, Bizzabo, Sched, and Cvent. Prospective attendees should monitor the official website directly for programme updates.
No information on a structured B2B matchmaking system, pre-scheduled meeting programme, or official networking application has been published for GAICA. Whether such infrastructure exists within the congress format is not confirmed as of verification.
| Official website | https://gaica.africa |
| Register | https://gaica.africa |
| Programme | not disclosed |
| Speaker list | not disclosed |