The historic Granada Palace in Cairo, recently restored and transformed into a vibrant cultural and community hub (Ghurnata Community Space), hosted the launch of Techne Summit Cairo 2025 as part of the inaugural Egypt Innovation Week 2025, with the active participation of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA).
The summit's opening session witnessed a strong turnout from government leaders, industry experts, investors, and entrepreneurs. Attendees included Dr. Mohamed Farid, Chairman of the Financial Regulatory Authority; Eng. Ahmed El-Zaher, CEO of ITIDA; H.E. Dag Juhlin-Dannfelt, Ambassador of Sweden to Egypt; Tarek El-Kady, Executive Chairman of Techne Summit; Ahmed El-Alfi, Chairman of Sawari Ventures; Louay El-Shawarby, Co-Founder of El-Shawarby Law Firm; and Dr. Haitham Hamza, Acting Chairman of the Software Engineering Competence Center (SECC). They were joined by representatives from investment funds, incubators, and accelerators from both the public and private sectors.
In his keynote, Eng. Ahmed El-Zaher, CEO of ITIDA, underlined that investing in young minds and talents is the cornerstone of building Egypt's digital future. He highlighted that every year, hundreds of thousands of graduates join the labor market, tens of thousands of whom possess advanced skills in engineering and technology. ITIDA, he explained, is committed to ensuring their readiness for the digital economy—whether by joining multinational and local technology firms, pursuing careers in freelancing, or launching startups within a supportive ecosystem.
El-Zaher stressed that this mission is not confined to Cairo alone but extends nationwide, reflecting ITIDA's belief that talent and opportunities must be accessible across all governorates.
He highlighted the rapid expansion of ITIDA's presence and activities through the Creativa Innovation Hubs network, which has grown from just three centers in 2016 to 18 today. These hubs provide young people across Egypt with platforms to acquire skills, develop ideas, and engage with investors. Global partners such as Plug and Play and 500 Global have already joined forces with ITIDA to support Egyptian startups at every stage of their growth journey.
Building on this network, ITIDA has enhanced its Start IT program, now offering incentives of up to EGP 480,000 per startup, along with USD 10,000 in AWS cloud credits. The agency has also introduced dedicated recruitment services through collaborations with local platforms like Talents Arena, Sprints, and Techie Matters, and launched new training and advisory services to help startups embed AI into their business models.
Additionally, ITIDA rolled out the third cycle of the Creativa Incubation Program, which provides early-stage startups with up to EGP 360,000 in financial and technical support over nine months. Complementing this, the Creativa Tech Launchpad is equipping entrepreneurs across multiple governorates with business planning, go-to-market strategies, financial modelling, and investor-ready pitch decks.
These efforts are already yielding measurable results. In 2025 alone, over 30,000 young people were trained, including 6,700 in freelancing skills, while more than 5,300 entrepreneurs received support and mentorship. The number of startups supported or incubated has more than doubled, surpassing 790 companies compared to 370 last year.
El-Zaher emphasized that this integrated approach—combining nationwide hubs, global partnerships, tailored programs, and ecosystem capacity-building—has positioned Egypt among the top three countries in the region for entrepreneurship and technology innovation.
Looking ahead, he noted that ITIDA's vision extends beyond today's digital economy, with investments already underway in deep-tech and future industries. These include specialised facilities for microelectronics, IoT, robotics, Industry 4.0 innovation, and digital fabrication labs, providing engineers and startups with the infrastructure to design and prototype globally competitive solutions.
International recognition of Egypt's progress is also growing. The Global Innovation Index 2025, issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), ranked Cairo among the world's top 100 science and technology clusters—for the first time in history, and as the only city in the Arab world and Africa included in the list.
Concluding his remarks, El-Zaher highlighted the symbolism of hosting the summit at Granada Palace, a heritage site restored to serve as a hub for innovation and community engagement. "Our future," he affirmed, "will not be defined only by what we inherit, but by what we invent and implement together—through empowering youth, enabling entrepreneurs, and transforming ideas into global success stories."
