Egypt is aiming to empower startups specialising in artificial intelligence (AI) to grow their businesses and attract more investment in the sector, according to the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Amr Talaat. Talaat's remarks came during the "Shaping the Horizons of Artificial Intelligence in Egypt" forum, organised by Egypt's Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) in collaboration with 500 Global. The event, held at the Egypt Digital Creation Centre in Giza, was attended by representatives from AI companies, venture capital funds, and various sectors interested in AI applications, as well as entrepreneurs and startups. The forum aligns with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology's commitment to discussing the pillars of the National AI Strategy (2025-2030) with the private sector and relevant stakeholders, and to highlight the strategy's importance in supporting entrepreneurship and investment in AI technologies. Talaat emphasised the ministry's commitment to holding regular meetings with various elements of the communications and information technology sector to understand their needs. He noted the increasing importance of AI across different sectors. He added that the forum aims to foster dialogue among the AI ecosystem in Egypt, including the government, startups, small and medium-sized enterprises, civil society, and private sector companies involved in sponsoring and investing in startups. Representatives from key sectors relying on AI technologies, such as communications and information technology, healthcare, and the banking sector, also participated. The goal is to enable startups to understand the requirements of these sectors and design AI-based solutions, thereby supporting companies operating in this field. Six Pillars of the AI Strategy Talaat explained that the National AI Strategy, launched in January, is based on six main pillars, which he said are important in empowering AI startups to develop their businesses. The first pillar concerns computational infrastructure, aiming to provide computational capabilities that meet the requirements of the government sector and provide capacity for the private sector, particularly startups and SMEs, through the ministry's Applied Innovation Centre. The second pillar focuses on data, aiming to organise and govern data availability through a governance framework that allows the private sector to use more data in building algorithms and systems related to AI, while maintaining data privacy. Amr Talaat The third pillar involves building systems using AI. Talaat said that the ministry has begun building a range of systems through its Applied Innovation Centre, which was established to implement the first version of the National AI Strategy. The second version of the strategy aims to achieve cooperation with the private sector and startups in building systems that serve various sectors of the state, such as agriculture, health, and education. The fourth pillar focuses on competencies and skills, expanding the base of trained personnel in AI through initiatives of the ministry and its affiliated entities to meet the requirements of large companies as well as startups and SMEs. The fifth pillar concerns establishing a legislative and governance framework, studying various international experiences in this field to develop balanced legislation that expands the array of solutions built using AI while protecting data privacy. The sixth pillar involves creating a sound AI ecosystem by supporting local startups, innovation efforts, and encouraging investment from venture capital firms in Egypt. Talaat stressed that one of the key objectives of the strategy is to attract more investment to Egypt in the field of AI, develop local companies operating in this field, and stimulate interaction between global and local companies operating in this field. ITIDA's Role in Connecting Stakeholders Ahmed Elzaher, CEO of ITIDA, said that ITIDA is working to connect all stakeholders in the entrepreneurship ecosystem, from the government and startups to investors, large companies, and institutions, to explore opportunities for cooperation and understand AI applications and market needs. He pointed to ITIDA's support for companies through an integrated business environment and specialised training programmes. He added that ITIDA has developed all its capacity-building and skills development programmes to meet requirements, providing training programmes in requirements engineering, software development and testing with AI tools, and responsible use of AI through its Software Engineering Competence Centre (SECC), as well as internationally accredited professional certifications. Elzaher said that ITIDA has contacted 37 startups, where challenges revolved around a lack of specialised skills, which the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and all affiliated entities are working to address with advanced training programmes. These efforts are part of ITIDA's strategy to enhance the AI environment and bridge the skills gap locally and globally, enhancing Egypt's position as a hub for high-value technological services. 500 Global's Investment in Egypt Amal Enan, Partner at 500 Global, said that the forum aims to hold discussions bringing together local and global companies specialising in AI, and to highlight the government's plans in this field until 2030, in light of the National AI Strategy. She explained that 500 Global has invested in more than 65 companies in Egypt so far, and is working to expand its investments in Egypt in cooperation with ITIDA. Enan noted that there are currently about 157 companies participating in the various programmes provided by 500 Global to support and develop startups in various stages, emphasising the company's interest in integrating AI technologies into the activities of startups in light of the increasing global interest in AI and the opportunities and challenges it provides. Skills Development Initiatives Hoda Baraka, Advisor to the Minister of Communications and Information Technology for Technological Talent Development, reviewed the state's efforts in adopting AI technologies since 2019, noting the main objectives of the second version of the National AI Strategy 2025-2030, which include building the capabilities of 30,000 AI specialists, raising awareness about AI among segments of society, enabling about 26% of the workforce in Egypt to use AI tools, and enabling about 36% of citizens to use AI applications, reaching more than 250 companies operating in the field of AI, with attention to research and development and supporting scientific research in these technologies. She pointed out that communication is underway with all sectors of the state to analyse the actual needs of each sector for AI applications, and thus develop a list of targeted sectors and the most priority uses, then develop executive plans to develop applications using AI that serve these sectors, and present them to private sector companies for cooperation in implementation. Noha Adly, Advisor to the Minister of Communications and Information Technology for Research and Development, explained the role of the Applied Innovation Centre in creating technological solutions using modern technologies, particularly AI, to address the challenges facing Egyptian society, with a focus on building capabilities in this field through on-the-job training. She noted that the Centre has computational capabilities, as well as a base of specialised experts and engineers, pointing to the most prominent projects implemented by the Centre to use AI in a number of sectors, including agriculture, education, justice, healthcare, and culture. She added that projects are being implemented to develop applications for automatic recognition of spoken language in Egyptian colloquial Arabic with its different dialects, machine translation and converting spoken language into text, as well as an application for automating quality assurance in call centres.
