Kampala Uganda – Monday 9th November 2026
The Research and Education Network for Uganda (RENU) and the Malawi Research and Education Network (MAREN) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at strengthening collaboration, innovation, and institutional capacity development to enhance support to the research and education sectors in Uganda and Malawi.
Through joint research initiatives, shared infrastructure, cybersecurity collaboration, staff exchange, and exploration of emerging technologies, the partnership aims to enhance connectivity, knowledge sharing, and sustainable service delivery among member institutions of the two organisations in their respective countries.
The MoU, signed during the 19th UbuntuNet-Connect Conference (UC2026), held from 29th to 30th October 2026 at the Pearl Convention Centre in Lilongwe, Malawi, marks an important milestone in deepening regional cooperation and advancing digital transformation in research and education across Africa.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Nicholas Mbonimpa, the RENU Chief Executive Officer (CEO) noted that the partnership reflects the growing importance of collaboration among African NRENs in addressing common challenges and unlocking new opportunities for research, education, and innovation.
“This partnership represents our shared commitment to building stronger and more resilient research and education networks across Africa. Through collaboration, innovation, and knowledge exchange, we can better support our member institutions and accelerate digital transformation within the education and research ecosystem,” he said.
Through this partnership, RENU and MAREN will jointly explore new and innovative approaches to delivering crucial services for research and education. The collaboration will focus on co-creation initiatives, including hackathons, innovation workshops, ideation sessions, and pilot projects designed to test emerging technologies and develop solutions tailored to the needs of the research and education community.
A key focus of the partnership will be the exploration of shared community infrastructure. Both organisations will assess opportunities for collaboration in High-Performance Computing (HPC), cloud services, and other shared digital platforms aimed at enhancing research capabilities and improving access to advanced technologies for member institutions.
Solomon Dindi, the MAREN CEO, emphasised the value of regional partnerships in strengthening institutional capacity and fostering sustainable innovation.
“Malawi and Uganda face similar challenges, and many of the solutions we need already exist within Africa. By sharing knowledge, expertise and experience, MAREN and RENU can develop practical solutions to these challenges together. We see this agreement as the beginning of broader collaboration among African NRENs,” Dindi said.
Cybersecurity collaboration, an important component of the partnership, will strengthen cooperation in areas such as threat intelligence sharing, exchange of best practices, and coordinated response approaches to cybersecurity incidents where appropriate. These efforts are expected to contribute to a more secure and resilient digital environment for research and education institutions.
In addition, the partnership places strong emphasis on capacity development through joint training programmes, workshops, and knowledge exchange initiatives aimed at strengthening both technical and administrative competencies across the two organisations. Areas of focus will include network engineering, cybersecurity, cloud services, governance, and project management.
The MoU further provides for staff exchanges and NREN twinning arrangements, enabling personnel from both organisations to participate in hands-on learning, mentorship opportunities, and collaborative projects. These exchanges are expected to deepen institutional cooperation while supporting the long-term sustainability and growth of both networks.
As African NRENs continue to play a critical role in enabling research, education, and innovation, partnerships such as this underscore the importance of regional collaboration in building future-ready digital ecosystems that empower institutions, researchers, educators, and students across the continent.
About RENU
RENU is a not-for-profit, member-based organisation whose main goal is to improve the quality of research and education by providing high-speed Internet and a wide range of tailored, affordable ICT solutions to research and education (R&E) institutions. By offering such solutions to R&E institutions, RENU helps member institutions overcome the traditionally high costs of sharing and exchanging information and knowledge, thereby enabling seamless collaboration among institutions and their peers, both nationally and globally. With a network of over 500 member institutions and more than 1,300 connected campuses, RENU continues to strengthen its role as a leading driver of research and education connectivity and digital transformation in Uganda and the region.
About MAREN
The Malawi Research and Education Network (MAREN) is Malawi’s National Research and Education Network, established in 2005 by Mzuzu University and the University of Malawi, which was then a federal university comprising Chancellor College, The Polytechnic, College of Medicine, Kamuzu College of Nursing and Bunda College of Agriculture. Its establishment was driven by the rapid growth of electronic academic resources, which universities struggled to access due to limited and costly Internet connectivity. Operationalised in 2018, MAREN now connects over 50 higher education and research institutions across 58 sites, providing affordable Internet connectivity and specialised digital services to advance teaching, learning, research and innovation. Since its operationalisation, MAREN has reduced bandwidth costs from US$266 to just US$14 per Mbps per month while introducing advanced digital services, including eduroam and identity federation, among others, significantly improving access to online learning resources, global research platforms and opportunities for academic collaboration across Malawi’s research and education community.
