GITEX AFRICA 2026 — Swiss know-how and innovation in the spotlight!

Now an unmissable annual event for technological and digital innovation, GITEX AFRICA was held under the theme “Catalysing the African digital economy in the age of Artificial Intelligence” for its 4^th edition. The event was a real success, with more than 55,000 participants, 1,450 exhibitors from 130 countries and 400 international investors representing more than 350 billion dollars in assets.

GITEX AFRICA 2026 was thus a genuine showcase for cutting-edge Swiss solutions in strategic fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure and digital transformation.

Swiss companies specialising in these strategic fields exhibited at the Swiss Pavilion. Those present included:

– SICPA – a specialist in securing transactions and products;
– SGS – the world leader in inspection, verification, testing and certification;
– Koenig & Bauer – a leader in printing and industrial security technologies;
– Reichle & De-Massari – a provider of connectivity and cabling solutions for networks and data centres;
– mobiletic – a Swiss specialist in digital training and e-learning, offering innovative solutions (LMS, AI) for digital transformation;
– ilem Group – a key player in IT services, cybersecurity and digital transformation;
– Dynaskills LLC – a specialist in upskilling, recruitment and nearshoring solutions, combining artificial intelligence and training to help companies cope with rapid market changes;
– And Edge Interactive – a specialist in interactive and immersive digital experiences.

Alongside them, several partner institutions came to enrich the discussions at the Swiss Pavilion at GITEX AFRICA 2026 around equally strategic projects such as the Swiss Partnership IP Morocco, an intellectual property cooperation project funded by SECO – the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs – and implemented by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in partnership with the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property. These institutions included the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), a leading academic institution renowned for its excellence in innovation, applied research and cutting-edge technologies; Switzerland Global Enterprise, the official organisation for export and investment promotion in Switzerland; and Trust Valley, a Swiss initiative dedicated to cybersecurity and digital trust.

Morocco-Switzerland: excellent relations and innovation projects

During GITEX AFRICA 2026, His Excellency Valentin Zellweger, Ambassador of Switzerland to Morocco, spoke in particular about the special importance of cooperation between the two countries and above all of the Swiss Partnership IP Morocco project.

“Relations between Switzerland and Morocco are excellent. We have several economic cooperation projects on which we exchange experiences, because Switzerland can learn from Morocco and Morocco can learn from Switzerland. And in this context, there is one project that is particularly close to our hearts: the Swiss Partnership IP Morocco, born of a partnership between the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property and the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property. For us, it is an absolutely flagship project because Switzerland builds its economic success on innovation, and this innovation must be protected”, said His Excellency Valentin Zellweger.

Throughout the event, the Swiss Pavilion was a place of fruitful meetings for the exhibiting companies and institutions, proof, if any were needed, of the interest in the excellence of Swiss know-how and innovation.

Concrete opportunities identified

Contacted by us for their feedback on GITEX AFRICA 2026, the exhibitors were unanimous that the Swiss Pavilion had generated a collective momentum that showcased the expertise, reliability and innovative capacity of Swiss companies.

“Although SICPA has been present in Morocco for more than 15 years and is well known to institutions, GITEX allowed us to showcase our know-how in product and brand protection, for solutions aimed at governments as well as at manufacturers”, explained Mr Ali Naciri, Managing Director of SICPA Maroc.

Having recently relaunched its development in Morocco, ilem Group found GITEX AFRICA 2026 an opportunity to broaden its portfolio of partners. “We have resumed development of the Moroccan market and being present at GITEX was the logical next step to strengthen relations with our partner ecosystem and meet new ones”, Mr Sami Bencheikh, Strategy Director of ilem Group, told us.

Reichle & De-Massari (R&M), for its part, took advantage of GITEX to gain visibility on the African market, as Mr Hicham Lamniai, the company’s Managing Director Maghreb and West Africa, confirms: “For us, this event is a strategic platform to strengthen our visibility on the African market, develop our partner network and promote our infrastructure solutions for data centres and networks.” He says he identified real growth opportunities during GITEX AFRICA 2026, particularly in the fields of Edge Data Centers, digital transformation and critical infrastructure projects.

The same story from Mr Alexandre Comby, CEO of mobiletic: “GITEX Africa 2026 gave rise to many qualified meetings with public and private players, both Moroccan and international. These discussions made it possible to identify several concrete collaboration opportunities, particularly around skills digitalisation projects, the deployment of training platforms and the implementation of technological solutions tailored to needs.”

Discussions on technological challenges and opportunities

In addition, the Swiss Pavilion hosted discussions and exchanges on the technological challenges and opportunities of tomorrow. It was in this context that it hosted a Masterclass by Professor Rachid Guerraoui of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, entitled “Are we doomed to unemployment and vassalage in the age of AI?”. An opportunity to explore the economic, social and strategic issues related to artificial intelligence.

In the same vein, the Swiss Pavilion hosted a presentation of the GovTech Innovation Challenge, an international programme run by the World Bank, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and Trust Valley, a Swiss centre of excellence dedicated to cybersecurity and digital trust. The GovTech Innovation Challenge aims to bring public institutions and companies together around concrete technological challenges.

“The GovTech Innovation Challenge programme is intended for governments. We connect start-ups, scale-ups and innovative companies with public institutions with the aim of achieving what they want in terms of advanced, rapid and strong transformation, making it possible to use new technologies such as AI. In Morocco, we are implementing the GovTech Innovation Challenge programme with the Court of Audit and the General Inspectorate of Finance. Morocco was chosen because it is a country that is transforming very rapidly and is in full ferment”, Ms Lennig Pedron, CEO of Trust Valley, told the press during GITEX AFRICA 2026.

For companies and institutions alike, the Swiss Pavilion at GITEX AFRICA 2026 was a real springboard for presenting their know-how, innovations and flagship projects.

This major gathering around the technologies of today and tomorrow was also an opportunity for Switzerland to strengthen ties with the African and European ecosystems, ahead of the Switzerland AI Summit, which will bring together governments, businesses, researchers and civil society around the global governance of artificial intelligence, in Geneva in 2027.