Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Tarek Kamel said Tuesday that Egypt has been fostering several distinguished technology projects through the National Business Plan Competition, which aims to encourage young people and small and medium sized enterprises (SME)s to innovate in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
 
In the session on innovation in IT applications held during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008 in Davos, Dr. Kamel said ICT projects are being fostered in Egypt to be developed into companies capable to compete in the local and international markets.
 
He added that the idea succeeded as a number of ICT incubated projects created by Egyptians have been providing services and technological solutions for local and international companies.

Meanwhile, Minister Kamel demonstrated during the session the Technology Development Fund (TDF) model, a venture capital fund propelling the growth of Egyptian innovative start-up ICT businesses through technology incubators and effective public-private partnerships.

The Business Plan Competition is an annual contest that has kicked off three years ago. It offers contestants the opportunity to turn their IT ideas into a product or a company. The competition is co-sponsored by Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and Technology Development Fund (TDF).
 
ICT ministers of South Africa and Singapore and Intel Corporation Board Chairman Craig R. Barrett and that of Dell Inc. Michael Dell contributed to the WEF session.