The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat visited, today, CREATIVA Innovation Hub at Sultan Hussein Kamel Palace and the Egyptian Postal Museum. They were opened, yesterday, by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi within opening a number of Digital Egypt projects, implemented by the Ministry of Communications and information technology (MCIT).
The ICT Minister was accompanied by several journalists and media professionals specialized in the ICT, tourism, and antiquities sectors, within the framework of coordination between MCIT and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The ICT Minister conducted a tour of CREATIVA Innovation Hub at Sultan Hussein Kamel Palace, where the Advisor to the ICT Minister for Technology Innovation, Electronics Industry and Training Hossam Osman received him.
Talaat stated that MCIT developed and restored the ancient Sultan Hussein Kamel Palace in 2019, as part of the state’s interest in transforming historical and cultural buildings into Innovation Hubs, while preserving their architectural character and heritage value.
The ICT Minister emphasized that CREATIVA Innovation Hub at Sultan Hussein Kamel Palace is part of the deployment project of CREATIVA Innovation Hubs nationwide. The project aims to enhance entrepreneurship, support technological innovation, and increase the number of CREATIVA Hubs from three to 30 nationwide so that an Innovation Hub would be established in each governorate.
He explained that eight Hubs were established in Aswan, Qena, Sohag, Minya, Menoufia, Ismailia, Mansoura, and Cairo. He added that 19 new Hubs are currently being established, at a total cost of EGP 4.3 billion.
Talaat added that MCIT is keen to attract the best world-leading companies in managing innovation hubs to enhance efforts to develop entrepreneurship and incubate and accelerate startups. An agreement has been signed with Plug and Play, a worldwide leading company specializing in nurturing and upscaling startups, as an operator of CREATIVA Innovation Hub at Sultan Hussein Kamel Palace. He also pointed out that “Plug and Play” is the largest early-stage startup investor in the world.
During his tour, the ICT Minister met with various entrepreneurs in the Hub. He highlighted MCIT interest in providing the appropriate environment for upscaling startups and expanding their business.
It is noteworthy that CREATIVA Innovation Hub at Sultan Hussein Kamel Palace includes advanced technology laboratories, startup technology incubators, training halls, meeting rooms, and co-working spaces. It provides various services, including incubating and developing startups, providing training and workshops in emerging technology fields, supporting creativity and entrepreneurship, and developing freelancing skills. This is in addition to organizing events that bring together entrepreneurs and creativity and innovation partners from local and international companies, universities, and research institutions. This is along with providing programs to develop ideas, and test and manufacture prototypes.
The Hub aims annually at establishing 40 startups, providing 150 job opportunities, attracting investments worth $7 million, and training 1,000 people.
In addition, the ICT Minister visited the Egyptian Postal Museum, the Advisor to the Chairman of the Egyptian National Post Organization (ENPO) for Museum Affairs Heba Barakat received the ICT Minister.
During his tour, Talaat showcased MCIT efforts since 2019 to renew, develop and expand the Egyptian Postal Museum at Al-Ataba Square. He added that this process is within the framework of preserving the state’s assets and heritage buildings and in light of the comprehensive plan for developing Egypt Post.
Talaat highlighted that the development processes were based on state-of-the-art technologies using Artificial Intelligence (AI), Quick Response (QR) Code, and Augmented Reality (AR) to enrich user’s experience by increasing the museum’s space from two halls on an area of 530 square meters to 15 halls on an area of 7,000 square meters. Each hall is about a stage of Egypt Post’s development throughout the ages. Talaat also added that Egypt Post’s exhibits were increased from 1,250 exhibits to 3,000 exhibits through the extraction, restoration, and display of the stored exhibits.
The ICT Minister thanked the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities for its cooperation to increase the museum exhibits.
The Egyptian Postal Museum was opened for the first time to the public in 1940 when Egypt Post was transferred from Alexandria to Cairo by the decree of King Fuad I in the early thirties. Consultants and specialists from Egyptian universities were consulted in the restoration processes to supervise the building restoration and renovation work. Moreover, specialists in the architectural heritage of the 19th and 20th centuries were employed in determining the distinctive architectural character of the building and how to highlight its historical value.
