Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and IT Federation of the Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (ITFEDCOC) are officially participating in a country-pavilion at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2020), organised by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) on 7-10 January, in Las Vegas, USA. In order to help startups join the global market to scale up their operations, ITIDA, which is the executive IT arm of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), sponsors them in order to help attract larger and more global companies as well as investors join business. With a focus on disruptive and emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Smart Cities, and the Internet of Things (IoT), eight innovative companies are competing for the show's spotlight to help accelerate their growth and innovation. The eight companies include: RafiQ is a virtual assistant that can understand Arabic voice commands in a user's local dialect with localised experience. RafiQ is available in the form of Android mobile application on the Google Play Store. Mintrics presents advanced Facebook video analytics tools using AI technology to measure the performance of content and benchmark against competitors. The company has a proven track record with a special success story where it helped one of the world's largest media company increase its Youtube viewership by 6x and achieve a 60% increase in engagement. Furnwish, a tech company creating tools and creative solutions for the furniture industry using augmented reality and artificial intelligence. The company empowers retailers with cutting-edge solutions that can enhance customers' experiences and customise it further. The rest of the list is Sigma Fit, Fulltact, Pass Inc., XIOT, and Hitchhiker. Thanks to the availability of tech talents, new government policies, and the private sector's investments, Egypt's entrepreneurship and tech startups ecosystem is growing rapidly and is nabbing the spotlight in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). According to a recent study, Egyptian startups top all peers in Africa securing disclosed VC deals directed to early-stage companies in 2019. Also, Egypt recently surpassed the UAE by number of VC deals in startups in the MENA region, accounting for 27% of all deals in the last quarter of 2019. CES is the world's gathering place for all those who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. It has served as a breeding ground for innovators and breakthrough technologies for 50 years, and has been a world stage for next-generation innovations for the global marketplace. The show attracts the world's business leaders, pioneering thinkers, and more than 170,000 attendees from 160 countries, in a forum where the industry's most relevant issues are addressed.
