The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) signed, on June 16, six funding contracts out of 39 submitted research projects in round 17 of the Information Technology Academia Collaboration (ITAC) fellowship program. Since its launch in 2006, ITAC fellowship program granted 102 joint research projects with companies and research centers.
Innovative ideas of the projects have focused on people with disabilities needs, wireless communications, electronic industries, electrical energy and automotive industry.
The program works on developing Egyptian communications and information technology industry through funding research projects that are the result of cooperation between university researchers, research centers and ICT companies. The program helps linking scientific research and IT industry on the one side with the market needs on the other side.
The program comprises three key research fields, the first of which is concerned with strategic research fields and includes nine tracks on top of which are network security, e-design, ICT applications in security, transportation, health, agriculture, energy, education and people with disabilities. The second field comprises eight research tracks related to latest technologies, research themes and global market trends.
This incorporates mobile applications, cloud computing, content analysis, social networks and business, internet of things, data analysis, smart machines and games application in various areas. The third field comprises specific research areas depending on requests from government entities, ministries or governorates.
One of the key winner projects focuses on helping people with disabilities by an automatic Arabic sign language recognition from RGBD data using the Microsoft Kinect IR Sensor.
The second project is related to electronic industries and aims to develop a touch screen platform based on carbon nanotubes which will be able to answer the needs of the growing electronics industry. It will also allow the manufacturing of touch screens at a lower price which provides a competitive advantage for Egyptian companies
The third research project, in the field of wireless communications, seeks to find optimal means for finding advanced design techniques of RF front-end resonators to improve communication quality and rationalize smart phones’ batteries consumption.
The fourth project is related to the automotive industry and focuses on designing and implementing a prototype for a device to analyze and test the Controller Area Network (CAN Track). The device will help develop the automotive industry where investment is expected to hit $ 18 billion by 2018.
The fifth research project, related to electronic industries, aims to develop a nano-composite anode for high performance li-ion batteries to empower silicon use as an effective substance for the electrodes ionized lithium batteries instead of the graphite currently in use.
This contributes to overcoming the problems of limited size and life of batteries in computers and mobiles. The sixth research project, related to smart grids, focuses on balancing the distribution due to the triple flip asymmetric loads that lead to a neutral stream, a common problem in the electric distribution network which limits the ability of electrical adaptors and the possibility of a fire hazard due to high voltage.
