In early 2009, UNESCO and HP agreed to extend the African pilot to over 20 higher education institutions in Africa and the Arab States region by 2011. The Brain Gain Initiative (BGI) should bring together over 20 institutions in some 16 countries.

Through the use of distributed computing, UNESCO, HP and other partners plan to create the first African regional university network and help reduce the number of skilled workers, scientists, academics and researchers that leave the region.

Innovative technology and funding support allows participating universities to re-establish links between researchers who have stayed in their countries and those living abroad, connect academics to international peers, research networks and funding opportunities. Faculties and students at beneficiary universities are able to work on innovative education projects with other institutions in their regions and around the world.

Fifteen new institutions have joined the BGI in October 2009 and four of the African Pilot institutions.

• Burkina Faso: Ouagadougou University, Laboratoire d’analyse numérique, d’informatique et de biomathématique (LANIBIO)
• Burkina Faso: Ouagadougou University, Laboratoire de traitement de l’information et de la communication (LTIC)
• Cameroon: Douala University
• Cameroon: Yaoundé I University
• Côte d’Ivoire: Cocody University
• Ethiopia: Mekelle University
• Ghana: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
• Kenya: Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology
• Kenya: University of Nairobi
• Kuwait: Kuwait University
• Lebanon: Saint-Joseph University
• Morocco: Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique (CNRST)
• Nigeria : University of Nigeria, Nsukka
• Senegal: Cheikh Anta Diop University
• Senegal: Gaston Berger University
• Tunisia: Université de la Manouba, Ecole Nationale des Sciences de l’Informatique
• Uganda: Makerere University
• Uganda: Mbarara University
• Zimbabwe: Chinhoyi University of Technology