The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) is participating in the First Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence Week, organized by Meta in partnership with Egypt University of Informatics (EUI) and the American University in Cairo (AUC). Organized on September 12-14, the event aims at raising awareness about the significance of modern digital technologies to unleash the economy, support digital transformation, enhance the understanding of innovation, and build youth capabilities.
Several local and international experts, representatives of the public and private sectors, academia, and Egyptian startups participated in the event.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Minister of Education and Technical Education Reda Hegazy and various officials from MCIT and Meta.
MCIT participation comes within the framework of its keenness to keep pace with the global trends towards developing emerging technologies and their uses and building a tech talent pool capable of competing in the international labor market.
The event delves into several Metaverse-related topics, the economic possibilities offered by the applications of emerging technologies and their success factors, the regulatory frameworks required to ensure the safe and beneficial use of these technologies, means to manage businesses and provide services, and in particular mechanisms of protecting identification and personal data in Metaverse.
In his speech delivered on his behalf by Deputy ICT Minister for Institutional Development Ghada Labib, ICT Minister Talaat stated that harnessing emerging technologies for the public good is a strategic priority for the state to boost economic competitiveness and achieve digital transformation. He emphasized that Egypt is a hub for ICT talent and is keeping pace with the development of new jobs in extended reality (XR), augmented reality (AR), and other technologies that will underpin the next Metaverse era.
Talaat stressed the importance of exploring all potential positive and negative impacts of the metaverse and addressing them to maximize their benefits and minimize their risks, both locally and internationally.
The ICT Minister explained that Egypt is implementing a variety of capacity-building programs on metaverse-related technologies in cooperation with industry partners. He highlighted the work of the Center of Excellence in Assistive Technology (AT) at the National Academy of Information Technology for Persons with Disabilities (NAID) in the Knowledge City in the New Administrative Capital. NAID, an MCIT-affiliated organization, is a research and development (R&D) ecosystem for metaverse-related technologies.
Talaat highlighted the experiences of using the metaverse in Egypt, including the American University in Cairo's (AUC) use of the metaverse in education and the experiences in the tourism sector. He added that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is leading a global effort with an international community of experts to develop standards and specifications for the safe, sustainable, and inclusive use of the metaverse.
Talaat emphasized the importance of considering the different dimensions of the metaverse, including services, infrastructure, the interaction between the virtual and real worlds, interoperability, security, data and personal identification information protection, accessibility, sustainability, regulations, and economic aspects.
The workshop features several sessions aimed at sharing experiences and knowledge about the policies and regulatory frameworks required for the Metaverse in various fields, including education, heritage, and tourism, empowering Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), promoting AI role in music, and exploring the Metaverse impact on digital transformation and the type of citizen-rendered services.
On the sidelines of the workshop, “XR for Good: Metaverse Startup Competition 2023” has been running to stimulate startups applying the Metaverse and XR solutions in their business models, in line with the sustainable development goals.
The competition comes within an initiative organized by EUI in cooperation with MCIT and with the support of Meta in partnership with AUC, Meta Academy, and Simplon. It provides opportunities for the winners to join NAID incubation and R&D programs, where many laboratories are equipped with the latest technologies for Metaverse and XR apps.
EUI interest in organizing this competition comes as part of its leading role as one of the first specialized university in ICT and related fields. It was established by MCIT as a leading academic institution that provides specialized educational programs to meet the labor market’s needs for specialists in state-of-the-art ICT fields.
EUI faculties include the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Computing and Information Sciences, the Faculty of Business Informatics, and the Faculty of Digital Arts and Design. All the faculties encourage their students to adopt entrepreneurship and innovation culture.
EUI also continuously participates in organizing and hosting many research and innovation-stimulating competitions for its students at EUI premises in the New Administrative Capital.
Several senior officials from MCIT and its affiliates are participating in the workshop sessions: President of Egypt University of Informatics (EUI) Reem Bahgat participated in the opening session of the workshop; the Advisor to the ICT Minister for Technology Innovation, Electronics Industry and Training Hossam Osman is participating in a session titled “economic opportunities of emerging technologies: elements of success”; and Head of Applied Innovation Center (AIC) Ahmed Tantawy is participating in the closing session of the workshop.
Furthermore, the Chairman of the National Academy of Information Technology for Persons with Disabilities (NAID) AbdEl-Monem El-Sharkawy, and Head of Business Development at EUI Amani Eissa are participating in a session titled “building the Metaverse: technical deployment of next-gen technology.” Moreover, Advisor to the ICT Minister on Data Governance Suzanne El Akabaoui, Advisor to the ICT Minister for Economic and Statistical Affairs Ahmed Said, and representatives of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) are participating in a session titled “policy and regulatory frameworks of emerging technologies in emerging markets”.
