The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has delivered a talk at a session titled “Society 5.0: Building super smart societies,” as part of the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) 2021, on behalf of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.
The session addressed several topics, including strategies aimed at improving the quality of life for citizens capitalizing on digital solutions and digitization as a means of sustainability, in addition to utilizing technological innovations in facing social challenges and enhancing human-machine interaction.
In his talk, Talaat stressed that Egypt is implementing many projects to build smart societies within Digital Egypt strategy, through which the latest global technologies are adopted to achieve the transformation into an integrated digital society. He added that 17 smart cities are being established along with the New Administrative Capital and that those cities run using smart digital technologies. This is in addition to projects that aim to make the Internet available to citizens through injecting capital to upgrade the information infrastructure nationwide.
The ICT Minister highlighted that a project is carried out as part of Decent Life initiative to install fiber-optic cables and provide high-speed Internet to all the houses in the Egyptian countryside over the next three years to serve about 58% of the citizens. This will help achieve a breakthrough in the society through indigenizing technology and creating opportunities for deepening people’s knowledge, thus opening bigger labor markets, and providing excellent opportunities for training and education.
Talaat stressed the importance of integration to facilitate access and communication for people around the world. This is achieved as part of governments’ efforts to bridge the digital divide in their countries and increase the number of people with Internet access and digital communication. He pointed to the importance of achieving a balance between making optimum utilization of the flow of big data, increasing the added value produced by such data, and protecting personal data.
Moreover, Talaat discussed the role of technology and data analysis in supporting development efforts in different fields. He pointed out the significance of all stakeholders (countries, institutions, and citizens) joining forces to overcome the negative effects that advanced technologies can impose.
The session was attended by the UAE Minister of State for Advanced Technology Sarah Al Amiri; the Global Strategy and leader, and the Global ESG leader of PwC Peter Gassmann; and Chief Futurist at SAP Global Martin Wezowski. Thales Chairman and CEO Patrice Caine joined through videoconference. The session was moderated by President of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council Danny Edward Sebright.
GMIS brings together more than 200 speakers, government officials and industry and technology leaders, to discuss the future of the industrial sector and explore investment opportunities in technology, innovation, and manufacturing.
On the sidelines of the summit, Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) is holding meetings with Intel, Wipro and DXC to discuss cooperation and investment in the Egyptian ICT sector.
