The National Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research (NISIR) and CopperCloud Inc. have signed a Letter of Intent, together with a Non-Disclosure Agreement, to collaborate on sovereign compute infrastructure, scientific research, and joint digital systems development for Zambia. The instruments were executed in July 2026, and a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding is being finalised through the requisite Government approval process, including submission to the Attorney General's Office through the Ministry of Technology and Science.
Under the Letter of Intent, NISIR contributes domain expertise in mineral, agricultural and industrial science research, and CopperCloud contributes sovereign compute orchestration and digital infrastructure engineering. The anticipated areas of collaboration include sovereign compute infrastructure, research digitisation and data management, joint research and development — including data classification and sovereignty frameworks aligned with the Data Protection Act, 2021 — and capacity building through reciprocal training.
The first area of focus is energy intelligence. CopperCloud operates ZambiaMacro (zambiamacro.ai), a publicly accessible platform that has published a governed, hydrology-led Power Stress Index for Zambia since March 2026, built entirely on public data. Selected published analytical artifacts carry cryptographic integrity evidence so readers can inspect what was attested, from what data, and when. On this foundation, CopperCloud is developing the Zambia Energy Stress Engine — a probabilistic early-warning capability for national energy planning and industrial decision-making, intended to give planners, utilities and industry weeks-to-months of usable notice of energy stress. The parties intend to define a first bounded pilot project within sixty days of execution, with joint scientific validation of the engine's assumptions, datasets and methodology as the proposed anchor — Zambian science scrutinising a Zambian capability.
All data generated or handled under the collaboration remains subject exclusively to the laws and jurisdiction of the Republic of Zambia.