The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat and Governor of Qena Ashraf Al-Daoudi have visited CREATIVA Innovation Hub at South Valley University.
 
The Hub has been established within the framework of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) project to deploy CERATIVA Innovation Hubs nationwide to promote the entrepreneurship and startups ecosystem and provide technical training for youth.
 
This came as part of the ICT Minister’s visit to Qena to open and inspect various MCIT projects under the Decent Life initiative in the villages of Qena.
 
The ICT Minister and Governor of Qena have been received by South Valley University's President Youssef Gharbawy.
 
During the visit, Talaat and Al-Daoudi held an extensive meeting in the presence of several officials from MCIT and the Governorate of Qena, a number of Parliament members, as well as a group of graduates of MCIT programs and initiatives that have been implemented at the Hub.
 
The ICT Minister stated that when starting to deploy CREATIVA Innovation Hubs in different governorates; six Hubs were established, four of which in Upper Egypt to promote the capabilities of Upper Egypt’s youth. He emphasized MCIT eagerness for diversifying digital capacity-building initiatives to suit citizens within different disciplines and age groups.
 
Talaat highlighted that within the framework of MCIT participation in Decent Life initiative, high-speed Internet services will be provided to about 58 million citizens in 4,500 villages. The first phase of the initiative will include implementing Fiber to the Home (FTTH) in 1,700 villages, with investments of EGP 12 billion.
 
The ICT Minister added that he agreed with the Governor of Qena to implement a plan to build cell towers in Qena, doubling the towers built last year to improve mobile services in the governorate.
 
For his part, Al-Daoudi commended MCIT efforts in developing the ICT infrastructure and achieving digital transformation. He also praised MCIT significant role to harness technology to serve society during the COVID-19 pandemic period, especially its effective role in fostering the educational system and online learning.
 
Gharbawy referred to the current cooperation between MCIT and the University, which resulted in establishing CREATIVA Innovation Hub at the University. He looked forward to more future cooperation and highlighted his willingness to provide the required logistics and overcome all obstacles to open new horizons of cooperation.
 
During the visit, the ICT Minister and Governor of Qena witnessed the signing ceremony of four Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs).
 
The first MoU was signed between MCIT and the Governorate of Qena to implement digital institutional development projects in the governorate’s general bureau, affiliated entities, and service directorates. The MoU also aims to implement digital awareness activities in the governorate’s villages to develop the digital capabilities of the neediest families to economically empower them, thus providing a decent life.
 
The first MoU was signed by the Deputy ICT Minister for Institutional Development Ghada Labib and the Deputy Governor of Qena Hazem Omar.
 
The second MoU was signed between MCIT and the Governorate of Qena to develop digital capabilities and skills for about 3,000 trainees in programs of computer basics and programming to fulfill the needs of the freelancing market.
 
 In addition, the two sides agreed to cooperate in integrating ICT in all community and economic development sectors through several main pillars, including disseminating the culture of sustainable green recovery to individuals and sharing best practices of responsible use among all society groups, based on the “Digital Path for Sustainable Green Recovery Initiative” launched by MCIT to raise environmental awareness of climate change risks and tackle challenges using ICT tools. The MoU also aims to cooperate in providing and disseminating e-learning and fostering its industry to create more job opportunities in this field.
 
The second MoU was signed by the Head of the Central Department of Digital Community Development at MCIT and the Director of the Digital Transformation for Sustainable Development (DT4SDE) project in Egypt Hoda Dahroug, and the Deputy Governor of Qena Hazem Omar.
 
The third MoU signed between the National Telecommunication Institute (NTI) and the University entails cooperation between the two sides in preparing calibers. It aims at establishing six accredited training academies to prepare calibers in cooperation with major specialized global companies (including Cisco, Huawei, Amazon, VMware, Fortinet, and Red Hat). NTI is an accredited regional academy for these global companies.
 
The third MoU was signed by NTI Director Iman Ashour and the University's President Youssef Gharbawy.
 
As for the fourth MoU, it was signed between NTI and “Digitize.” It aims at preparing specialists in the establishment, installation, operation, and maintenance of large-scale fiber-optic networks as well as qualifying calibers to work on the Company’s projects to develop the ICT infrastructure in Upper Egypt.
 
The MoU was signed by NTI Director Iman Ashour and Digitize CEO Yousry Atlm.
 
During the meeting, Labib reviewed the most prominent achievements and the future plans in the projects implemented in cooperation between MCIT and the Governorate in digital institutional development and digital transformation in Qena.
 
It is worth noting that MCIT has exerted efforts to promote digital institutional development in Qena. These efforts include developing the information systems and digital transformation department at the Governorate’s general bureau to contribute to creating a new business model that ensures the sustainability of digital transformation. This is in addition to implementing specialized training programs necessary to keep pace with the work environment for 42 employees of the governorate’s information center, e-portal, and technological hubs, who are nominated to work in those units and centers.
 
Around 680 certificates for developing and building digital capacity programs were handed over to 610 employees in the governorate, directorates, districts, and surrounding villages. Numerous initiatives for developing and building digital capabilities, raising awareness of, educating, and digitally qualifying citizens were also implemented to 2,488 citizens of all societal groups. These initiatives included 3,611 tracks which were developed according to international standards and in partnership with global institutions and companies specializing in that field.
 
The CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) Amr Mahfouz referred to ITIDA programs held in CREATIVA Innovation Hub in Qena to motivate youth to become entrepreneurs, support freelance professional activities and technical training, and organize events for networking between youth and investors. He explained that the number of young people benefiting from ITIDA programs in the Hub reached about 8,757.
 
Ashour explained that 1,100 trainees were trained in CREATIVA Innovation Hub in Qena within NTI different initiatives. These initiatives include Digital Egypt Youth (DEY) Initiative, Fiber Optics Training Program, the summer training program for university students, as well as a program to qualify public sector employees.
 
During the meeting, the Chairwoman of Information Technology Institute (ITI) Heba Saleh reviewed ITI plans within CREATIVA Innovation Hub in Qena as well as the training services it provides to the people of the governorate and the governorates of southern Upper Egypt. The number of trainees has reached more than 2,700 young people since its start in August 2020 until now.
 
Talaat learned about the successful experiences of several distinguished graduates from MCIT programs implemented within CREATIVA Innovation Hub in Qena. Many young people succeeded in developing applications to provide innovative technological solutions to serve many areas in society, while others established startups. In addition, the experiences of several graduates of freelance initiatives who succeeded in obtaining distinguished job opportunities in the global freelancing market were also presented.
 
In a similar vein, the ICT Minister called for establishing a research and development (R&D) center at the University in collaboration between Telecom Egypt. He also called for providing free Internet services to the University's library.
 
Talaat concluded his visit to CREATIVA Innovation Hub in Qena by inspecting CREATIVA training labs.
 
It is worth noting that the ICT Minister is visiting Qena, today, to open and inspect several MCIT projects in the villages targeted within Decent Life Initiative. The ICT Minister inspected the work of installing FTTH to provide high-speed Internet services in one of the targeted villages within Decent Life Initiative in Qena. He also opened four post offices after their development.
 
The program of Talaat’s visit to Qena will include visiting various schools, that are technologically equipped to facilitate the educational process for students with visual and intellectual disabilities, as well as inspecting the work progress in one of Telecom Egypt’s customer service centers.