Africa's brightest minds, building Africa's future.
A continental network of researchers, mentors and graduate scholars advancing applied science where it is needed most.
01The People
A growing network of African Centres of Excellence
Seeded with real centres. Backed by the Association of African Universities and the World Bank.
Find the right centre in seconds.
The expertise and instruments are already here.
The network just makes them findable.
Search experts, equipment & services
Filter the directory by skill, instrument, or availability — and see exactly what each centre can offer.
Every centre, one clear profile
Admins keep their people, labs, and services current. Verified members browse a living picture of the network.
One network, one simple workflow.
From the first search to a recorded result.
Everything after the connection happens inside each centre.
1 · Search the directory
Verified members find the experts, equipment, and services they need across every centre in the network.
2 · Send a connection request
Reach out to a centre with one click. The receiving admin is notified, acknowledges, and connects the parties.
3 · Draft a consortium
For bigger calls, let the Consortium Builder rank a partnership of centres against your brief.
4 · Log the outcome
Either side records what the connection produced in 30 seconds — so the network can prove its value.
The platform's only job is to connect two centres. Contracts, logistics, and payment stay where they belong.
Inside each ACE, handled by people who know the work.
Describe a funding call. Get a consortium.
The Consortium Builder ranks centres against your brief and drafts a partnership
ready to act on — with a transparent, rules-based fallback when you need it.
Every suggested centre shows why it was matched — the skills, equipment and track record behind the ranking. You stay in control of who to approach.
The impact loop
Prove the value the network creates.
When a connection leads somewhere, either side logs it in thirty seconds. Those notes become the evidence that turns a promising pilot into a funded programme.
30s
to log a result
1
screen, never skipped
OUT-2F4AValue created
WACCIWAGMC
Shared sequencing run completed; two graduate scholars co-authored the resulting paper.
Illustrative — unverifiedLogged by the receiving admin
Questions, answered.
The model, the scope, and what stays off-platform.
Who can join the network?
Access is invite- and approval-gated. Each centre nominates an admin, who is verified before they can manage a profile or send connection requests. There is no public self-registration.
Does the platform handle contracts or payment?
No. Its only job is to connect two centres. Everything that follows — agreements, logistics, and any payment — is handled administratively inside each centre and stays off the platform.
What does the Consortium Builder actually do?
You describe a funding call and it ranks centres against your brief, showing the skills, equipment, and track record behind each match. It always has a transparent, rules-based fallback, so a demo never depends on an external API.
Why log outcomes if collaboration happens off-platform?
Because the outcome log is the impact story. A thirty-second note from either side is what lets the network prove value was created — the difference between a pilot that gets renewed and one that gets a polite thank-you.
Is the seeded data real?
Every seeded record is clearly marked “Illustrative — unverified.” We use real public faculty information or obviously synthetic placeholders, and never fabricate a real person's credentials.
Who is behind ACE Connect?
It builds on the African Centres of Excellence network, backed by the Association of African Universities and the World Bank.
Connect the continent's centres.
Access is invite-only while we onboard centres. Tell us about yours.
