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Paving the way for innovation and entrepreneurship, the Egyptian government has undertaken many initiatives in different tracks to create convenient conditions for investment in ICT in Egypt. These tracks focus on regulating telecommunications, creating business parks, launching incubation programs, developing future innovators and entrepreneurs and start-up national and international partnerships.
Bridging the gap between business and academia stimulating creativity and hence, opening new horizons in the industry, is another approach. The government undertook other regulatory, legal, marketing procedures in order to support the industry, not to mention the protection of property rights.
Since late 1990s, the deregulation and development of the telecommunications sector has always been a top priority to the government. Therefore, in 2003, the Telecommunications Law was enacted to regulate the telecommunications services sector, enhance and deploy services in compliance with the most advanced technology, satisfying users’ needs at affordable prices. As a result, the total ICT investment in Egypt exceeded EGP44 billion by the end of 2010.
It is expected that the competitiveness of the ICT sector and its increasing role in economic development will lay a strong foundation for high value-added innovation activities in Egypt revolving around this vital sector.
ICT and business parks provide a high-tech environment where synergies in creativity, innovation and business development are enhanced. Smart Village Cairo was inaugurated in 2003 as the country’s first “technology cluster and business park”. This prime location receives multinational and local companies, government bureaus, financial authorities and educational institutions.
In 2010, the first phase of the Maadi Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Park was inaugurated. The establishment of this park aims to meet the increasing demands of the industry and to export a wide range of technological services to clients around the world from Egypt.
Recognizing the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation in sustaining ICT in Egypt, Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) established a successful incubator program several years ago to help start-ups develop business skills and managerial efficiency, and to attract multinational companies to invest in promising ideas.
Today, the incubator program plays a key role in strengthening ties between business and academic innovation, nurturing the growth of SMEs throughout Egypt and boosting the flow of trained individuals into the labor market.
Besides incubation initiatives, the Technology Development Fund (TDF) provides funds for more mature companies. The TDF, a public-private partnership fund established in 2004, was considered to be MCIT’s first effort towards building an ICT venture capital industry in Egypt.
Promoting innovation is not only about providing funds. It is also about creating future innovators and entrepreneurs. This is why Egypt is developing an extensive undergraduate and postgraduate education, and non-degree executive training.
As for Creative ICT collaborations, partnerships with national and international high-tech research and development (R&D) programs are an effective way to stimulate innovation and bring new ideas to both local or global the market. Through such cooperation, Egypt is able to leverage its technology expertise and precision-trained engineers, both locally and in conjunction with other countries.
It is impossible to go on developing the industry adopting innovation strategies without bridging cooperation channels between Business and academia. Aware of the importance of linking industry research with market needs, the Information Technology Academia Collaboration (ITAC) is an ITIDA program designed to foster cooperation between ICT companies and R&D institutions. In order to empower competition in local and global markets, ITAC programs promote collaboration between industry and academia creating more opportunities within ICT companies for undergraduates and graduates.
Sustaining innovation necessitates an ICT ecosystem support. Regarding the regulatory support, Egypt has worked hard to improve the investment climate with a number of recent reforms. For instance, a new investment law was adopted allowing full repatriation of profits, unrestricted ownership of investment capital, and elimination of price controls and reduced tax rates. On another level, there are the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements that slashed trade barriers for ICT products and services.
In April 2008, Egypt established specialized courts for economic, financial and investment affairs. These courts are responsible for the rapid issuance of decisions regarding investment and commercial disputes so as to encourage local and foreign investment in the Egyptian market.
On the other side, ITIDA provides a dedicated service unit for assisting organizations with drafting contracts and agreements, and supporting international negotiations.
Following the introduction of a new Intellectual Property Law in 2002, the Intellectual Property Rights Office was established to reinforce these changes and administer a national copyright system. The office also works with national and international organizations to increase awareness and understanding of IPR.
A wide range of support is available from ITIDA to help Egypt-based SMEs to market their products and services. For high-tech trade shows, qualified companies can obtain conference preparation assistance including the development of marketing brochures and CDs. A business transformation program is available to help enterprises improve their competitiveness. And, if an IT firm wants to enter regional or global markets, there is a platform for partnerships with leading system integrators and channel partners in the region. |
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By partnering with multinationals, incubating new enterprises, establishing world-class R&D centers of excellence, and fostering a nationwide entrepreneurial culture, Egypt is successfully helping global players bring new technologies to market. Collaborative partners from the U.S. and Europe are winning innovation awards while developing products and services that create a huge impact in their respective industries.
allows France Telecom Group to expand its presence in Egypt, to enhance the group’s capacity to deliver innovative services to its customers, especially in the For instance, the Egypt Nanotechnology Center is one example of the partnership developed among IBM, two Egyptian universities and two funding organizations. The center’s research focuses on simulation and modeling software, alternative energy and energy recovery for desalination.
The Cairo Microsoft Innovation Center (CMIC) focuses on applied research and development activities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Orange Labs Cairo MENA region.
Valeo International Automotive Software (VISA) is a unique engineering center working under the umbrella of the VALEO Center of Electronics Excellence located in Paris. It has 250 trained Egyptian engineering staff in embedded software development, application software and tools to enhance development.
Mentor Graphics is a leader in electronic design automation and enables companies to develop better electronic products faster and more cost-effectively. Egypt Team is a powerful technology drive within the Middle East region market. Company engineers published more than 150 technical documents and created more than 20 patents. |
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