The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat delivered a speech during the fourth edition of Techne Summit, held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), on September 29-30, under the auspices of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the Digital Economy, and Technology General Division of the Federation of the Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC), and the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA).

During his speech, Talaat underscored MCIT support for technological innovation and entrepreneurship, being the cornerstone for building the knowledge economy, referring to the vital role of Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in providing 76% of jobs.

The opening ceremony was attended by the FEDCOC President Ahmed El-Wakeel, the Sweden's Ambassador to Egypt Jan Thesleff, the Chairman of Digital Economy and Technology General Division Khalil Hassan Khalil, and a number of experts in the field of communications and information technology.

The ICT Minister reviewed, during his speech, the efforts employed to create an environment conducive to innovation and develop creative ideas of young people to transform them into real products. This is in addition to raising the capabilities of startups, disseminating the culture of entrepreneurship and self-employment and encouraging its concepts among youth and students of different ages. He stated that four technology parks have been established in a number of governorates to serve as centers for small and micro creative companies and creative young people. In addition, MCIT is currently cooperating with the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to establish seven technology innovation hubs in Egyptian universities, as a first phase, to foster creativity and encourage young people to innovate and establish business.

Talaat added that a number of training programs are being offered to qualify young people to work in the ICT sector in various technological disciplines in line with the dynamics of the labor market and its requirements through the digital academy platform available in the Next Technology Leaders (NTL) initiative. He stated that a number of training programs will be launched to build the capacity of thousands of graduates in various IT disciplines.

The ICT Minister expressed that Egyptian young people are very promising, especially for their creation, innovation and participation in the conference. He accompanied the youngest participant in the conference, being a model for creative young people, who represents the future.

Talaat also reviewed the most important projects undertaken by MCIT in cooperation with the State’s various sectors to build a digital society capable of embracing innovation and creative thinking, in line with implementing the State’s strategy for the transition to digital society and promoting financial inclusion. He stated that 20 government e-services will be available in mid-June 2019 that will provide an opportunity for start-ups to create mobile applications that support the technological system of e-services offered in the State’s different sectors.

The ICT Minister opened Techne Summit exhibition, which included projects of creative young people and startups. An open dialogue was held between the ICT Minister and a number of creative young people about their projects. They talked about their vision to develop these projects and the most important programs that MCIT offers to support technological innovation and entrepreneurship.

The Conference was attended by 125 IT experts, representatives of 25 countries and 180 IT startups, with more than 5,000 participants.