Increasing the Number of Companies Benefiting from ITIDA IT Services Highlights 2012 Harvest
Year 2012 witnessed intensive efforts exerted by the Information Technology Industry Development Agency "ITIDA" in order to develop its initiatives and programs meeting the needs and requirements of IT companies operating in Egypt.
Aiming to ensure safe flow of ICT companies necessary investments, it was obvious during this year, the biggest challenge for the Agency was creating new sources to fund IT projects.
"ITIDA" signed contracts of partnerships with various parties on local, regional and international levels to promote its services on a larger scale.
On May 13th, ITIDA signed a memorandum of understanding to encourage registered companies on its data base to enroll in the Egyptian Stock Exchange, where 88 companies filed to participate in the said program, 5 of which are now registered.
Two agreements for cooperation were signed with the National Bank and United Bank to finance ICT projects and provide technical and financial consultations of 300 million pounds. Moreover, cooperation with the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA).
The financial support is estimated at three million Egyptian pounds for electronic signature companies that obtained permission from the Agency to practice this business.
The latest Export IT support program data for 2012 indicates that the total companies that have submitted their documents to join the program are 80 companies, of estimated exports during 2011 for more than 2.5 billion Egyptian pounds.
Besides, a manual for managing foreign direct investment procedures is prepared to facilitate the implementation of memoranda of understanding signed with these companies. It also includes mechanisms and procedures to claim the support allocated to companies, according to the terms and conditions of the MoU.
On the cooperation level with multinational companies and international organizations working in the ICT field, ITIDA has signed an MoU with the international company "IST" to implement a national initiative aiming at developing the Egyptian call centers services sector and outsourcing industry, through which 12 thousand jobs shall be provided for Egyptians from 2012 until 2016.
ITIDA has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the international company "QCentris" to increase its investments in Egypt in the field of IT outsourcing and services export. It stipulates to provide about 100 new jobs for Egyptian calibers specialized in software consulting, development and quality control testing.
In the framework of addressing the African market, another MoU was signed between ITIDA and Information and Communication Technology Association-Ethiopia (ICT-ET), aiming at strengthening cooperation between the two parties, as well as ICT related business support between public and private sectors in the two countries.
ITIDA’s participation in international exhibitions and events reflected remarkable development with regard to the increasing number of Egyptian companies participating in exhibitions, the positive coverage in foreign media, the volume of deals and the high rate of return on investment for exhibitors.
During the period from February 26th to March 1st, ITIDA participated in the International Telecom Exhibition "GSMA Mobile World Congress" in Barcelona, Spain. ITIDA pavilion was almost 90 m2 and contained 15 companies.
The number of visitors to the Egyptian pavilion reached more than 800 visitors, and the expected volume of deals as a result of the companies’ participation is about 33 million Egyptian pounds.
For the sixth year, ITIDA sponsored the Egyptian participation at CeBIT Hannover, Germany, during the period from March 6th to 15th. Its pavilion area was 150 m2 that included 12 Egyptian companies.
The number of serious visitors to the Egyptian pavilion exceeded 450 visitors and more than 14 positive press covering reports about the Egyptian participation in the exhibition were issued. The volume of expected deals surpassed 10 million Egyptian pounds for 5 companies.
For the seventh consecutive year, ITIDA was keen to participate in GITEX Dubai 2012, which was held from October 14th to 18th, at the pavilion which comprised 80 Egyptian companies on a surface area of 228 square meters.
The number of visitors to the Egyptian pavilion exceeded 1,700 visitors. The estimated volume of deals carried out by the participating companies, topped 51 million Egyptian pounds by 13 companies.
ITIDA has also supported the participation of 47 small and micro-businesses companies in a pavilion of 800 m2, at the Cairo International ICT Fair 2012, was held during the period from April 26th to 29th, 2012.
As a result of their participation in the exhibition, the estimated deals of participating companies are about 2.6 million Egyptian pounds.
Worth mentioning, the participation of ITIDA, ITI and 7 Egyptian companies in the eLearning Africa Conference and Exhibition, held in Benin, during the period from May 23rd to 25th. As a result of companies’ participation, the estimated volume of expected deals is about 2.4 million pounds.
As for technology promotional tours, ITIDA has headed a delegation comprising a number of ICT companies to take part in the Road Show.
It was organized to the United States by the Arab Organization for Informatics and Communications, in collaboration with the Arab-American Trade Chamber "NUSACC" last January.
At the level of initiative research collaborations between companies, universities and ITAC center, during the 9th and 10th sessions of the program, ITIDA has signed funding contracts to the winning projects in the field of product development, where 6 contracts were signed to finance the winning projects in the ninth session last March.
The funds amounted to about 3.8 million pounds. The 10th session of the program, which was held last August, has received 44 proposals for funding from companies and research entities and consequently contracts were signed to finance winning projects, which amounted to about 2.8 million Egyptian pounds.
Software Engineering Competence Center SECC contracted with the European Commission as coordinator and member within the alliance that include “Tecnalia” the Spanish company, Finland technological research center and the Italian University of Bologna in order to implement a project within the seventh Framework Program for Research and Technological Development "FP7".
It aims to transfer the latest technologies in the software industry to Egyptian companies, with a total budget of 4 million Egyptian pounds fully funded by the European Commission over two years.
ITIDA has just finished cashing 24.5 million Egyptian pounds, which is the value of receivables of 280 SMEs, in the framework of two projects, prepared specifically for the development and marketing of software products.
Companies wishing to obtain the Management Accreditation Program services (MAP) can now register. It is a new program, specially designed to help organizations upgrade the quality management of their IT projects, according to the second level criteria of CMMI.
On the scope of institutional capacity building of IT companies, ITIDA celebrated the graduation of 38 companies from “Grow IT” the Capacity Building Program. It was after the completion of the program phases in November 2012, which started its activities in September 2008 with the aim of improving the competitiveness of Egyptian companies.
75 qualified consultants, including 45 international and 30 local consultants are involved in the program.
During the period from March 25th to 28th, 2012, ITIDA organized the third Employment Fair for EduEgypt Graduates program, which aimed at enhancing administrative and linguistic skills of university graduates to qualify them to work in the ICT industry. Since its launch in 2008, the total number of participating graduates in this program is 26 thousand graduates. 16 major international and local ICT companies have participated in the Fair; providing about 3,700 job opportunities.
On the intellectual property rights protection level, the Intellectual Protection Office, ITIDA subordinate, has held specialized training courses for public prosecution in intellectual property law and e-signature. It has prepared survey application form to study the economic impact of intellectual property rights on small and medium enterprises operating in ICT sector in Egypt.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s report also expressed the United States Government welcoming of the Arab Republic of Egypt’s interest to protect intellectual property, particularly with regard to law enforcement, training and qualification of judges and staff working on applying copyright and anti-piracy laws. He praised some provisions of the Egyptian courts against violators of intellectual property rights as well.
