1 1. INTRODUCTION Data are at the core of the digital transformation taking place at an unprecedented pace and scale globally. The deployment of data-driven technologies to transform most aspects of our daily lives and work into quantifiable data that can be tracked, monitored, analysed and monetised has become such a phenomenon that the term ‘datafication’ has been coined to describe it. These processes - which have accelerated during what has been referred to as the first ‘data-driven pandemic’ - can turn public and private organisations into data-driven enterprises, improving information flows and efficiencies and creating more competitive economies. Enhanced information flows under the right conditions can also reduce information asymmetries between governments and citizens, ultimately strengthening good governance. Some of these processes have been incremental and some disruptive, but they have all been highly uneven. Data utilisation is one of the key drivers in accelerating the achievement of Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the absence of good data being one of the primary challenges to assessing the progress being made toward achieving the underlying targets. Specifically, improved integrated data systems directly contribute to the achievement of several of the goals, such as improved health, education systems identity systems, but without direct policy intervention, the current uneven distribution of opportunities and harms arising from datafication between countries and within them will be exacerbated. Whether African states can create the conditions for the harnessing of these processes of digitalisation and datafication to create added value, increase efficiency and productivity, improve social services and create new forms of work will depend on the policies adopted and implemented. This calls for a collaborative African response. Maximising the benefits of a data-driven economy and minimising the risks are highly dependent on enabling policy and regulatory frameworks that increase legitimacy and public trust in the management of data. Data infrastructure that enables an integrated data system is a key strategic asset for countries, but the scale, extent and speed of change brought about by data-driven digital technologies make regulation complex and resourceintensive. As emerging technologies become more central to the data economy, the diversity of stakeholders and plethora of platforms involved in its regulation also expand dramatically, making it increasingly difficult for policymakers to remain involved and informed (African Development Bank, 2019). Emerging advanced technologies like AI are likely to increasingly challenge the efficiency of traditionally disparate legislative approaches to lawmaking. Data are global in nature, meaning that on the one hand, regulations have cross-border implications and that, on the other, regulatory precedence is most often set by data-rich and data-intensive developed countries. Market pressure is also imposed by oligopoly firms, notably Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon (or FAGAM). The nature of data allows these firms trading in global data-driven digital markets to leverage their competitive advantage in data and algorithms across the globe. This ultimately affects local competition and inhibits the global competitiveness of domestic data economy participants. There are, therefore, issues of intellectual property and data access, fair trade, competition and consumer rights that impact data policy in a global context and raise the need for global governance and collaboration.