Egypt University of Informatics and Egypt SAP sign agreement
This alliance programme seeks to incorporate SAP Egypt’s solutions and applications into educational and training curricula for students and faculty members.
According to MCIT, the agreement's signing, which took place during SAP’s "AI Innovation for Business Day," also intends to equip students with digital skills to meet the evolving job market and enhance their skills to work efficiently in a modern digital environment.
The programme offers students hands-on training and access to various SAP applications, providing a comprehensive learning experience that combines theoretical knowledge with practical expertise.
During the event, MCIT’s Minister Amr Talaat emphasized that the acceleration of AI innovations in recent years has made these technologies a common denominator across all sectors, enabling them to enhance innovation and achieve actual development.
Talaat noted that Egypt launched the National AI Strategy's (NAIS) first phase in 2019, and the second phase will begin soon.
According to the OECD Artificial Intelligence Review of Egypt, NAIS aims to leverage AI for economic and social development, boosting productivity and innovation. The strategy is overseen by the National Council for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) and led by the MCIT. It involves government, business, academic, and technical stakeholders.
Talaat indicated that Egypt established the Applied Innovation Centre in 2019 to create systems and algorithms using AI technologies to develop innovative solutions for various societal challenges.
Applications have been developed in agriculture, healthcare, environment, and water resource management, helping Egypt improve its ranking by 49 positions in the AI Government Readiness Index.
The minister also discussed AI's potential across sectors, including personalized medicine, disease prediction, industry, design, and agriculture, where AI can identify pests and forecast crop diseases.
However, Talaat pointed out key challenges AI poses, such as ethics, data neutrality in AI systems, and labour market implications. He noted that while some jobs might become less relevant due to AI, new roles will emerge, altering the skills needed in the future.
Talaat stressed the importance of fostering an environment conducive to data exchange, research, and development, building a pool of trained talents, and providing the necessary digital infrastructure and computing resources to support AI systems and applications.
Egypt’s efforts in promoting AI
The minister also outlined Egypt’s efforts to promote AI, including the launch of the Egyptian Responsible AI Charter. He highlighted that Egypt enacted a Personal Data Protection Law to establish a legislative data exchange and protection framework.
Additionally, a centre is being established to oversee data protection in collaboration with relevant authorities, with plans to draft legislation ensuring secure and private data sharing across entities.
On Tuesday, Minister of Education and Technical Education Mohamed Abdel-Latif told Al-Ahram Weekly that artificial intelligence and programming will be mandatory for grade 10 students in Egyptian schools starting next year to build a generation capable of advancing in technology.
Ministry spokesman Shadi Zalata added that students will study AI basics and programming languages, like Python, working on projects to apply AI in sectors such as healthcare and finance.
On 6 November 2024, Talaat announced that the ICT sector’s contribution to Egypt's GDP rose to 5.8 percent in FY2023/2024, up from 3.2 percent in FY2017/2018. He noted that the industry contributed five percent in FY2022/2023, with a target of eight percent by 2030.
In December 2019, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced the establishment of a regional centre to leverage AI for sustainable development as part of Egypt’s initiatives to achieve progress in AI and empower youth. This centre was among several efforts announced during the World Youth Forum to foster international partnerships and promote development goals.
Short link: