Egypt Accelerates AI Ambitions with National Strategy, Starts 2025

Editorial Team

Last updated 3-04-2025

3 min

The "Shaping Egypt AI Horizon" forum highlighted Egypt's National AI Strategy running from 2025 to 2030.

Minister Dr Amr Talaat emphasised collaboration between government, private businesses, and startups for AI growth.

ITIDA is connecting startups, government, and investors to enhance Egypt’s tech scene.

500 Global is boosting AI integration in startups to drive innovation.

Egypt aims to train 30,000 AI specialists and increase public AI adoption by 36%.

The "Shaping Egypt AI Horizon" forum recently held at the Creativa Innovation Hub in Giza threw a much-needed spotlight on Egypt's ambitious National AI Strategy, set to run from 2025 to 2030. The gathering, hosted jointly by ITIDA (the Information Technology Industry Development Agency) and renowned investment firm 500 Global, assembled an impressive lineup of tech leaders, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and corporate bigwigs—all keen on tapping into Egypt’s ever-growing artificial intelligence potential.

Communications and Information Technology Minister, Dr. Amr Talaat, made an appearance at the event to underline the importance of cultivating a strong and vibrant AI ecosystem across the country. Addressing the forum attendees, he stressed that collaboration between government bodies, private businesses and startups would be crucial to speeding up Egypt’s growth fueled by AI.

"Our doors are wide open to creators, innovators and industry leaders," Talaat noted, committed to working hand-in-hand with tech companies and entrepreneurs to understand the challenges they're facing. In a bid to bridge the gap between varying sectors, he asserted that the government is taking the dialogue seriously, to better facilitate joint efforts involving startups, small businesses and industries at large.

One of ITIDA’s representatives, Engineer Ahmed Alzaher, shared that the agency is playing a pivotal role connecting the dots between startup firms, government departments, investors, and corporations—all crucial for building a robust tech scene. ITIDA is proactively exploring collaborative possibilities, identifying useful AI applications and ensuring gaps in the market are adressed effectively. Impressively, they've already started working with 37 startups, tackling key obstacles such as the shortage of highly skilled AI professionals by providing training programmes focusing on software engineering, AI toolkit use, and responsible AI practices.

500 Global didn’t remain in the background either. Amal Anan, their Managing Partner, stressed the importance of maintaining an ongoing conversation within the local and global AI landscapes. Emphasising their burgeoning relationship with ITIDA, she noted they're scaling up their investment efforts, particularly by pushing AI integration into startups to spark innovation.

On the governmental side, Dr. Hoda Baraka, advisor to Egypt’s ICT Minister, reaffirmed the administration's determination to raise the bar on Egypt's AI capabilities. She outlined ambitious goals: by the close of the second phase, Egypt hopes to have trained around 30,000 AI specialists, enabled 26 percent of their workforce to master AI-powered tools, and boosted general AI adoption amongst the public by some 36 percent.

It's fair to say the Egyptian tech scene seems to be gearing up for a truly exciting few years ahead. And if discussions at the Creativa Innovation Hub are anything to go by, it's clear all parties involved understand just how critical AI will be in shaping the country's future—not just in the tech scene, but in everyday life as well. Perhaps we'll soon see app developers and software engineers chatting about their progress in local hangouts like Cairo café spots or over a plate of kushari, debating the finer points of artificial intelligence while remaining firmly rooted in Egypt’s vibrant culture. Arageek readers would certainly enjoy following such tech conversations.

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