The General Division of Digital Economy and Technology at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC) has announced its participation in the International Web Summit, to be held on 1-4 November in Lisbon, Portugal. A total of 24 Egyptian start-ups will take part in the event under sponsorship of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA). This is the second time the General Division of the Digital Economy participates in the exhibition, after the 2019 edition, in which seven Egyptian companies participated. This comes within the Egyptian state's keenness on sponsoring technological innovation and supporting start-ups and entrepreneurs. Moreover, the Ministry of Communications has been especially keen on empowering technology start-ups. Commenting on this participation, Khalil Hassan Khalil, Head of the General Division for Digital Economy and Technology, expressed his happiness to participate for the second year in the new session of the Lisbon Exhibition and Conference after the recent success, which encouraged doubling the number of participating companies by a three time fold, in accordance with the strategic vision of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Khalil added that Web Summit is one of the largest global events in the field of technology and entrepreneurship in Europe. It has been held since 2010 and attended by more than 90,000 participants, including 11,000 at the level of CEOs of major technology companies from 160 countries and 1200 speakers. More than 4000 start-ups are also participating. They work in the field of advanced technology. In addition, the process of selecting qualified companies to compete to participate in the Web Summit exhibition and conference has gone through several stages to ensure that the best elements are chosen with complete transparency and that 24 companies within the Egyptian pavilion will be allowed to participate this year. They were selected from a total of 70 companies that had applied to participate this year. Winning companies are scheduled to be announced during the activities of the Techni Summit conference held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina on 2-4 October 2021 after the jury has finished selecting the winning companies and the committee includes members from ITIDA, the Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC), the General Division for the Digital Economy, and technology experts. Khalil added that what the Division is doing is an example for combining efforts and enhancing cooperation between civil society organizations and the government, represented by the Ministry of Communications and ITIDA, in addition to the logistical support enjoyed by participating companies from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Egyptian Embassy in Portugal. Noteworthy, Egyptian companies have recently witnessed a remarkable development in technical solutions and successful business models. They have achieved impressive successes at local, regional and international levels, which qualifies them to compete strongly, access various global markets, attract more investments and achieve breakthroughs in the national information industry.
