The First Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence Week was organized by Meta in partnership with Egypt University of Informatics (EUI) and the American University in Cairo (AUC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), on September 12-14, in Cairo.
Egypt’s First Metaverse and AI Week marked a milestone for stakeholders, including the government, private sector, industry entrepreneurs, policy-makers, and academia to jointly design a roadmap for the uptake of emerging Metaverse technologies, with a focus on Egypt. The event agenda featured sessions and panel discussions aimed at increasing the understanding of the Metaverse as the next iteration of the Internet and an area where Egypt can demonstrate early thought leadership, foster innovation, and raise awareness about the significance of modern digital technologies to unleash the economy, support digital transformation, enhance the understanding of innovation, and build youth capabilities.
Key topics of discussion included the adoption of technology in cultural and historic restoration, economic opportunities of emerging technologies, policy and regulatory frameworks of emerging technologies in emerging markets, technical deployment of next-gen technology, and how emerging technologies can drive the digital transformation agenda, among others.
The event delved into several Metaverse-related topics, the economic possibilities offered by the applications of emerging technologies and their success factors, the regulatory frameworks required to ensure the safe and beneficial use of these technologies, means to manage businesses and provide services, and in particular mechanisms of protecting identification and personal data in Metaverse.
A speech was delivered on the behalf of the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat by Deputy ICT Minister for Institutional Development Ghada Labib.
The speech highlighted that harnessing emerging technologies for the public good has been a strategic priority for the state to boost economic competitiveness and achieve digital transformation. Egypt is a hub for ICT talent and is keeping pace with the development of new jobs in extended reality (XR), augmented reality (AR), and other technologies that will underpin the next Metaverse era.
On the sidelines of the workshop, “XR for Good: Metaverse Startup Competition 2023” had been running to stimulate startups applying the Metaverse and XR solutions in their business models, in line with the sustainable development goals, including creating immersive learning experiences, augmenting the tourism economy, scaling up educational access to a wider audience, and assisting urban development, as well as in gaming, civic tech, environment, industry safety, and accessibility and inclusion.
The competition came within an initiative organized by EUI in cooperation with MCIT and with the support of Meta in partnership with AUC, Meta Academy, and Simplon. It has provided opportunities for the winners to join incubation and R&D programs by the National Academy of Information Technology for Persons with Disabilities (NAID), where many laboratories are equipped with the latest technologies for Metaverse and XR apps.
