Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Amr Talaat attended the closing ceremony of the third round of a capacity-building initiative for university students in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), the ministry said. The initiative, a collaboration between the ministry and Dell Technologies, provided specialised AI training to 676 students from eight public, private, and national universities. Since its launch, the programme has trained 1,620 students who have implemented 300 AI projects. As part of the initiative, an AI hackathon was held to devise smart solutions for the tourism sector, with 63 students from 13 teams participating. Talaat honoured the three winning teams from Cairo University, the German University in Cairo, and Ain Shams University. In his speech, Talaat said the hackathon reflects the ministry's commitment to fostering diligence, innovation, and a competitive spirit among youth, in collaboration with the private sector. "AI and other modern technologies have a developmental impact on all state sectors," he said, adding that the ICT sector is a common denominator in all societal progress. Talaat also announced the launch of "Digitopia," which he described as the largest competition in the ICT sector, with total prizes of EGP 10m. The competition targets youth aged 9 to 35 and covers several technological tracks, including AI, cybersecurity, and digital arts. Mohamed Amin, Senior Vice President for the CEEMETA region at Dell Technologies, said: "At Dell Technologies, we recognised early on the importance of digital transformation and the rapid development in the field of AI, which is why we invest about $8bn annually in research and development, with about 70% of that dedicated to AI technologies." The AI capacity-building initiative is part of an agreement between the ministry and Dell to build the capabilities of innovative students in AI, providing them with the necessary technical support to meet the demands of the job market.
