Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology

With over 30 years of solid experience in the IT and telecom industry, implementing working strategies for the provision of innovative digital technologies, Dr. Talaat was tasked with a chief mission to lead Egypt’s Digital Transformation Initiative, 2020.

Dr. Talaat is confident of what immersive technologies can offer to serve as a strong arm to empower vital sectors of the economy and realize the Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt Vision 2030.

Dr. Talaat’s endeavor aims to oversee the implementation of several strategic projects, that include developing and securing the country’s IT & telecom infrastructure, creating a generation of professionals specialized in advanced digital technologies, spurring innovation and improving government performance and quality of services offered to the citizen-as a main objective of the government’s digital transformation mega program.

A strong believer in the power of youth as active participants in the socio-economic development of the nation, Dr. Talaat led a number of digitally-based empowerment initiatives to engage professionals to support such belief. Throughout his career, Dr. Talaat succeeded in materializing exceptional investments, merges and acquisitions to attract and nurture Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the country and create the value-add.

Under his leadership, before joining the Government of Egypt, Dr. Talaat spearheaded IBM Egypt’s expansion plans, ensuring the creation of unique job opportunities and the establishment of centers of excellence to export digital services. Throughout his career at IBM Egypt, he held various leadership roles till he headed the firm.

Dr. Talaat was an Adjunct Professor at Cairo University with teaching experience in market and sales strategies and tactics, organizational behavior and strategic management. He was an honorary member at the ICT Board at Cairo University, member of the ICT Board of the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, and the Chairman of ICT Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Talaat earned his Doctor of Business Administration from the University of Paris - Paris School of Business and obtained a Master of Science in Computer Science from Illinois Institute of Technology, and holds an MBA from Paris ESLSCA Business School, France. He is a graduate of Cairo University’s Faculty of Engineering.

Dr. Talaat's most notable achievements during his tenure as Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology include:

1. End-to-end process reengineering and digitization of government workflows that culminated in the launch of the Egyptian government's digital services portal-Digital Egypt, as a part of an omni-channel approach to delivering government services, to ensure digital and financial inclusion.

2. The promulgation of the Data Protection Law.

3. The establishment of a National AI Council, and Digital Society Higher Council, spearheaded by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT)

4. The launch of Egypt's Applied Innovation Center (AIC), which utilizes High Performance Computing to advance applied AI research across sectors, including health.

5. Egypt's prominence from category "C" in the World Bank's GovTech Maturity Index in 2018, to Category "B" in 2020, then Category "A" in 2022.

6. The complete transformation of Egypt's national postal service with the renovation of nearly 4,000 offices nationwide, digitization of its services and logistics management systems, launching new financial products, and becoming an integral channel for the provision of Digital Egypt government services.

1. The establishment of Egypt University of Informatics (EUI), Africa's first specialized ICT university, in partnership with global renowned universities, including Purdue University and Minnesota University.

2. Boosting government investments in Egypt's ICT upskilling programs to expand their outreach from around 15,000 trainees annually, to more than 600,000 trainees in three years.

3. Engaging in new collaborations with top-ranked universities across North America, Europe and Asia, as well as ICT multinationals to offer professional Master's degree for fresh graduates in Egypt in five different ICT specializations, as well as applied internships through the Digital Egypt Builders Initiative (DEBI).

4. Expanding applied ICT training programs to middle school and high school students across Egypt through the Digital Egypt Cubs Initiative (DECI).

5. The establishment of seven Applied Technology Schools across seven governorates in Egypt, to transform technical training in the ICT sector and fast-track middle school graduates’ path towards a career in ICT.

6. Partnering with global education providers to train more than 100,000 Egyptians annually, in specializations demanded by the global freelancing market, which resulted in the growth of Egypt's digital services exports.

7. The establishment of Egypt's National Academy of Information Technology for Persons with Disabilities to serve as an inclusive training hub for PwDs and as an incubation center for assistive technologies.

1. The establishment of eight technology innovation hubs (Creativa Innovation Hubs) across eight governorates in Egypt, as a part of Dr. Talaat's "Innov-Nation Strategy" which aims to propagate the digital innovation culture across the nation in all 27 governorates.

2. The establishment of the Sultan Hussein Kamel Palace (Creativa Innovation Hub), which is the first-of-its-kind innovation hub in Egypt. A historic palace in Cairo's Heliopolis district. The palace was once home to the family of Egypt's monarch, it is an architectural gem, that was restored by MCIT under the leadership of Dr. Talaat, and opened to Egypt's vibrant entrepreneurship ecosystem as an accelerator and incubator at the heart of Cairo.

3. Building partnerships with global players in the venture capital and incubation businesses to operate Creativa Hubs.

4. Establishment of Egypt's largest Electronics Design Hub and R&D labs in the New Administrative Capital, which hosts local and international electronics design companies.

Digital Information and Telecommunications Infrastructure:

1. Undertaking an ambitious plan to transform Egypt's digital infrastructure, under Dr. Talaat's leadership. Egypt's fixed broadband infrastructure was overhauled and expanded leading to Egypt's prominence as Africa's fastest Internet provider since 2021 consistently, after years of being ranked 40th among African nations.

2. Digital Transformation of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, with the launch of digital citizen services that enhance transparency and governance of the services provided by mobile operators to citizens in Egypt. This includes the launch of MyNTRA mobile application, and the enforcement of new mobile portability regulations in Egypt to increase competition among mobile operators.

3. Auctioning of spectrum to mobile operators in Egypt to enhance the quality of telecom services across the country.

4. Launching new network monitoring services and publishing the reports' results for mobile operators' quality of service across multiple metrics across Egypt, which improves operator’s accountability for enhancing services and empower citizens to make informed decisions about their preferred network provider.

5. The establishment of Egypt's first and largest Regional Data Hub, as a part of the country's Data Center strategy.

6. Increasing Egypt's Submarine Cable Landing Stations from seven to 10 stations within one year, to further bolster Egypt's position as a regional connectivity hub.

1. Egypt hosted the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC-19) in Sharm El Sheikh in 2019.

2. The New Administrative Capital was chosen as the Arab region's Digital Capital for 2021.

3. Under the leadership of Dr. Talaat, Egypt chaired the 51st Ordinary Session of the Executive Bureau of the Arab Telecommunications and Information Council of Ministers (ATICM), organized by the League of Arab States.

4. Egypt chaired 26th Session of the Arab Telecommunications and Information Council of Ministers (ATICM), within which the Arab ICT Strategy was adopted.