ITIDA and CDTI Renew MoU to Boost Cooperation and Fund Joint R&D Projects in Cybersecurity, AI, and Electronics
Cairo: June 10, 2022
Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat received Ramon Gil-Casares, Ambassador of Spain to Egypt, to discuss enhancing cooperation between Egypt and Spain in the ICT field.
Most notable identified areas of cooperation included attracting Spanish investors and cooperating in digital government and the electronics industry . They also discussed fostering technological innovation and implementing joint research and development (R&D) projects.
The meeting has been attended by the CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) Amr Mahfouz and the General Manager of the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) in Spain Javier Ponce.
In his remarks, ICT Minister underlined Egypt’s keenness to collaborate with Spain on a myriad of ICT fields. He looked forward to exploring new areas for co-operation between both countries in digital government and services since Egypt seeks to establish centers of excellence and render high-quality digital services. Additionally, Talaat applauded the Spanish experience in those domains.
“An R&D center is being established in the Knowledge City in the New Administrative Capital,” Minister revealed. It will boast an electronic design center, providing a favorable environment for the design and development of electronic circuits and systems. The Center will accommodate around 40 companies specialized in that field.
Talaat highlighted that electronics design is one of the most promising industries in Egypt, stressing his eagerness to strengthen cooperation with Spain in that field.
For his part, the Spanish ambassador stated that his visit builds upon a visit paid by Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez to Egypt last December, which focused on strengthening cooperation in scientific research, IT development, cybersecurity, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Gil-Casares explained that cooperation between the two countries over the past few years resulted in developing digital applications and establishing cooperation in scientific research in advanced technologies between the Egyptian and Spanish private sectors. He added that ITIDA-CDTI Memorandum of Understanding was renewed within the framework of that fruitful collaboration.
ITIDA CEO Amr Mahfouz said: “Egypt has a large skill pool ". Every year, about 60,000 young people graduate from the Faculties of Engineering, and Computers and Information ready to enter the labor market”. Mahfouz added that Egypt offers software services cost-competitive with those offered by countries in Eastern Europe. The country also enjoys a robust electronics design industry and a multifaceted experience in outsourcing and offshoring services.
“We look forward to boosting Egyptian-Spanish cooperation in cybersecurity and new tech areas, in light of the MoU between ITIDA and CDTI,” Mahfouz remarked.
Furthermore, CDTI General Manager Ponce stressed his keenness to cooperate with Egypt in IT, electric car-related software, and cybersecurity. He has pointed out that many Spanish companies collaborated with Egyptian businesses over the past years, which has gained them extensive knowledge of the Egyptian market.
In this context, ITIDA, for the second time, renewed the MoU with CDTI within the framework of the Egyptian-Spanish IT Innovation Program (ESITIP) as part of the Information Technology Academia Collaboration (ITAC) program. ESITIP enables Egyptian and Spanish companies to submit proposals to find a partner from the industry sector or academia. Proposals must receive the approval of both ITIDA and CDTI for companies to receive the fund.
A new round of ESITIP is scheduled to be announced in November, targeting funding joint R&D projects in cybersecurity, AI, electronics, and many more.
