Da
07
Mag
Seminari e Convegni
AISAC Conference 2026
On the occasion of the 2nd AISAC Biennial Conference (Italian Association for Africa-China Studies), to be held at Castello del Valentino on May 7 and 8, the China Room research group presents the following two events:
7 May - from 5 to 7 pm - Sala Vigliano, Castello del Valentino |
Book launch with the author Andrea Pollio (Politecnico di Torino): “Silicon Elsewhere. Nairobi, Global China and the Promise of Techno-capital”
Heralded as Africa's "Silicon Savannah" - a cradle of innovation - Nairobi has become a technology and innovation capital for Kenya and for the continent at large. With a national strategy that has prioritized digital technology for the last two decades, many Chinese digital champions, smaller startups, and investors have since chosen Nairobi as their African landing pad. Moving between leafy coworking spaces and the temperature-controlled rooms of brand-new data centers, Silicon Elsewhere locates Nairobi among the experimental capitals, not peripheries, of technological change in the early twenty-first century.
Author: Andrea Pollio is an Assistant Professor of Economic and Political Geography at Politecnico di Torino, and a research associate at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He is one of the founding editors of Platforms & Society and a co-curator of UTA-Do—Urban Theory Workshop–Africa. He is the author of Silicon Elsewhere: Nairobi, Global China, and the Promise of Techno-Capital (University of California Press, 2026).
In conversation with the author: Francesca Governa (Politecnico di Torino), Jack Odeo (University of Stockholm), Jethron Akalah (Maseno University), Elisa Gambino (University of Manchester), Costanza Franceschini (Leiden University).
8 May - from 9 to 10.30 am - Sala Vigliano, Castello del Valentino |
Seminar with Han Cheng (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science) - Following China’s Science Silk Road
As part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has launched the "Science Silk Road" program, aimed at investing in science, technology and innovation in countries along this newly envisioned Silk Road. Be it Chinese researchers designing data centers in Southeast Asia and smart cities in Africa, or collaborating with Latin American countries on deep-space exploration, the Science Silk Road has led to the rapid emergence of new science infrastructures and networks with complex implications for the South, North and beyond. However, little is currently known about whether, and how, the Science Silk Road shapes research, society, and development in BRI countries and globally. This talk will introduce a new international research project to fill this gap by mapping out the Science Silk Road’s multi-level impacts on BRI countries, established science powers, and international scientific cooperation
Speaker: Han Cheng is a senior research scholar at MPIWG’s Lise Meitner Research Group “China in the Global System of Science” and an adjunct professor at Université Laval’s Graduate School of International Studies. He is a human geographer with particular interests in political and development geographies, the geopolitics of territory and infrastructure, geographies of knowledge, and the histories of geographical thought. He has published widely in leading journals, including Progress in Human Geography, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Political Geography, and Review of International Political Economy. Han currently serves as a principal investigator for the Volkswagen Foundation-funded project, “China’s Science Silk Road and the New Geopolitics of Knowledge Production” (2026-2030), one of the first in-depth analyses of new science infrastructures and networks under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Han is an editor of Dialogues in Human Geography and a member of the editorial board of Political Geography.
The events are open to all.
Further details can be found in the attached posters.
7 May - from 5 to 7 pm - Sala Vigliano, Castello del Valentino |
Book launch with the author Andrea Pollio (Politecnico di Torino): “Silicon Elsewhere. Nairobi, Global China and the Promise of Techno-capital”
Heralded as Africa's "Silicon Savannah" - a cradle of innovation - Nairobi has become a technology and innovation capital for Kenya and for the continent at large. With a national strategy that has prioritized digital technology for the last two decades, many Chinese digital champions, smaller startups, and investors have since chosen Nairobi as their African landing pad. Moving between leafy coworking spaces and the temperature-controlled rooms of brand-new data centers, Silicon Elsewhere locates Nairobi among the experimental capitals, not peripheries, of technological change in the early twenty-first century.
Author: Andrea Pollio is an Assistant Professor of Economic and Political Geography at Politecnico di Torino, and a research associate at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He is one of the founding editors of Platforms & Society and a co-curator of UTA-Do—Urban Theory Workshop–Africa. He is the author of Silicon Elsewhere: Nairobi, Global China, and the Promise of Techno-Capital (University of California Press, 2026).
In conversation with the author: Francesca Governa (Politecnico di Torino), Jack Odeo (University of Stockholm), Jethron Akalah (Maseno University), Elisa Gambino (University of Manchester), Costanza Franceschini (Leiden University).
8 May - from 9 to 10.30 am - Sala Vigliano, Castello del Valentino |
Seminar with Han Cheng (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science) - Following China’s Science Silk Road
As part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has launched the "Science Silk Road" program, aimed at investing in science, technology and innovation in countries along this newly envisioned Silk Road. Be it Chinese researchers designing data centers in Southeast Asia and smart cities in Africa, or collaborating with Latin American countries on deep-space exploration, the Science Silk Road has led to the rapid emergence of new science infrastructures and networks with complex implications for the South, North and beyond. However, little is currently known about whether, and how, the Science Silk Road shapes research, society, and development in BRI countries and globally. This talk will introduce a new international research project to fill this gap by mapping out the Science Silk Road’s multi-level impacts on BRI countries, established science powers, and international scientific cooperation
Speaker: Han Cheng is a senior research scholar at MPIWG’s Lise Meitner Research Group “China in the Global System of Science” and an adjunct professor at Université Laval’s Graduate School of International Studies. He is a human geographer with particular interests in political and development geographies, the geopolitics of territory and infrastructure, geographies of knowledge, and the histories of geographical thought. He has published widely in leading journals, including Progress in Human Geography, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Political Geography, and Review of International Political Economy. Han currently serves as a principal investigator for the Volkswagen Foundation-funded project, “China’s Science Silk Road and the New Geopolitics of Knowledge Production” (2026-2030), one of the first in-depth analyses of new science infrastructures and networks under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Han is an editor of Dialogues in Human Geography and a member of the editorial board of Political Geography.
The events are open to all.
Further details can be found in the attached posters.