Space in Africa Exclusive

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The government of Côte d’Ivoire has appointed H.E. Dr Tidiane Ouattara as the inaugural Director General of the Space Agency of Côte d’Ivoire (ASCI), the national space institution established by decree of the Council of Ministers on 4 June 2025. The appointment makes H.E. Dr Ouattara the first person to lead the agency, which is supervised by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

About ASCI

ASCI was established as a public administrative institution with a scientific and technological character, mandated to oversee the peaceful use and exploitation of outer space for the benefit of Côte d’Ivoire. Its responsibilities span coordinating national space science and technology initiatives, advancing space-based technologies for sustainable development, promoting domestic expertise, and supporting scientific research.

The agency’s programme areas cover Earth observation, space meteorology, astronomy, space exploration, satellite navigation, and satellite communications, reflecting the breadth of space applications relevant to Côte d’Ivoire’s development priorities. ASCI is designed to function as the central coordinating body for the country’s engagement with the space sector, both domestically and in its relations with continental and international partners.

The establishment of ASCI followed years of policy discussion within Côte d’Ivoire about the need for a dedicated national space institution. The country’s intentions in this direction had been publicly articulated as far back as 2015, when President Alassane Ouattara commissioned a feasibility study for a national satellite programme. The June 2025 decree formalised that ambition into an operational institution. H.E. Dr Ouattara’s appointment as inaugural Director General is the first significant leadership milestone for the agency since its founding.

Who is H.E. Dr Tidiane Ouattara?

H.E. Dr Ouattara is an Ivorian national with more than three decades of experience in the space sector, beginning in academia and progressing through the Canadian government into continental African space governance. He holds a Master’s degree in Physical Geography from the Université de Cocody-Abidjan (now the Université Félix-Houphouët-Boigny) as well as a Master’s degree and a PhD in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems, both from the Université de Sherbrooke in Québec, Canada, where he graduated in 1996 and 2001, respectively. Following his doctorate, he joined the University of Sherbrooke as a lecturer before moving into space applications and management roles with the Canadian government, covering Earth observation, policy, strategy, and international relations.

He joined the African Union Commission in 2016 as GMES and Africa Programme Coordinator, serving as the AUC’s point of contact for the joint African Union – European Union Earth observation initiative and overseeing its implementation across multiple funding cycles. He held the position until the programme’s conclusion in December 2025, during which GMES and Africa secured a total European Union investment of EUR 54.65 million, comprising EUR 30 million for the first phase (January 2017 – December 2021) and an additional EUR 24.65 million for the second phase (January 2022 – December 2025).

In January 2024, the AU appointed him Head of the Science, Technology and Space Division at the Department of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, in which capacity he coordinated the development and implementation of the African Outer Space Programme and the African Space Policy and Strategy, and played a central role in the establishment of the African Space Agency (AfSA), headquartered in Cairo, Egypt. He was also the principal AU negotiator for the European Union’s EUR 100 million investment into African space programmes starting in 2025.

In February 2024, the Executive Council of the African Union appointed him as the inaugural President of the African Space Council, AfSA’s governing body, a position he was formally sworn into at the African Union Commission headquarters in Addis Ababa in July 2024. His tenure runs for four years, renewable once. He continues to hold that position.

H.E. Dr Ouattara also served on the Board of Digital Earth Africa, a continental initiative focused on open satellite data infrastructure for sustainable development across Africa. His long-held conviction about the continent’s potential in the global space economy has been captured in a phrase he has articulated publicly on multiple occasions: “Africa is the El Dorado for global space business.”

What he brings to the role

H.E. Dr Ouattara’s technical grounding in space is directly relevant to ASCI’s mandate. His decade at the AUC overseeing the African Outer Space Programme gave him hands-on experience designing and negotiating large-scale, multi-stakeholder space programmes at both the technical and policy level. Having served as a founding architect of AfSA, he assumes the ASCI role with an established network across African space agencies, partner institutions, and international funders that few practitioners on the continent can match.

The appointment of a figure with H.E. Dr Ouattara’s continental profile to build a space programme from the ground up sends a deliberate signal about Côte d’Ivoire’s ambitions. The country is positioning ASCI not merely as a domestic coordinating body, but as an institution capable of engaging credibly with regional and international stakeholders from its inception.

Beyond the symbolic value of the appointment, Dr Ouattara’s extensive experience across African and international space initiatives is likely to play a critical role in shaping ASCI’s strategic direction. His familiarity with the continent’s space landscape, coupled with a deep understanding of existing programmes and institutional frameworks, places him in a strong position to promote collaboration, minimise duplication of effort, and strengthen coordination between ASCI and other space and space-adjacent organisations.

Such an approach could enable Côte d’Ivoire to leverage existing expertise, infrastructure, partnerships and funding mechanisms rather than replicating capabilities that already exist elsewhere. By drawing on both domestic and international instruments, ASCI may be better positioned to accelerate the development of the country’s space ecosystem and ensure that space-based services and applications contribute meaningfully to national development priorities.