Government as IT Catalyst

Government Organizations

     One of the Egyptian government’s (GOE) initial efforts at actively developing the high technology sector was the creation of the Information Decision Support Centre (IDSC).  The IDSC is charged with implementing and managing the country's technological development, while its subsidiary, the Technology Development Program (TDP), is specifically charged with technological development in industry. Closely related, the RITSEC (Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Center), was established in 1992 through multilateral donor funding. As part of its mission, the IDSC established the Information Technology Institute (ITI) in 1993.  Its purpose was to supplement the number of Egyptian IT professionals by providing specialized IT training. (African Internet Connectivity) According to Harvard study interviews conducted with managing directors of Egyptian software companies, ITI graduates are ranked highly for familiarity with the latest technologies and for possessing excellent, relevant programming skills. (Harvard Study)

Government Organizational Activities

    In 1994, the IDSC, in conjunction with RITSEC began a program to broaden the knowledge and user base of the Internet community in Egypt.  Funded by the GOE, the program offered free Internet access to corporations, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and professionals.  By late1995, the number of users was estimated at 10,000. (Ibid.)

    The IDSC/RITSEC partnership, joined by Egypt Telecom in early 1996, began laying the foundations for wide spread Internet access by developing an Internet backbone and gateway facility.  In March 1996 this infrastructure began to be utilized by the first IDSC/RITSEC licensed ISPs.  Expanding beyond the capitol and increasing the number of ISPs (16 to 40) brought increased usage, from 25,000 in early 1997 to 100,000 users by mid 1998. (Ibid.)

     RITSEC played a critical part in the creation the Regional Arab Information Technology Network (RAITnet) in December 1994.  The main objectives of the organization are 

•  To support the acceleration of the software industry in the Arab region.
•  To maximize the utilization of the technical resources available for the software industry in the member countries.
•  To help exchange experience among professionals in IT.
•  To follow state-of-the-art international developments in the software industry. (Kamel, T. pg. 5)

     IDSC was also responsible for implementing the Egyptian Information Highway Project in late 1995 to help development of Egyptian content on the Internet. (Ibid.)
To see this award-winning site: http://www.idsc.gov.eg

Current Government Policy and Initiatives 

     There has been an increasing emphasis placed on the development of Egypt’s IT economy and the GOE’s commitment to this undertaking; all of the following statements were made in the span of four months:

     President Hosni Mubarak declared at a national ICT conference in (9/1999) that he will be directly overseeing and chairing a committee for high technology. This committee will determine the national strategy for high tech for the country.

     The Egyptian Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade and the U.S. Commerce Secretary signed a joint statement on e-commerce on October 14, 1999.  Central to the statement, was a commitment by both countries to promote the use and spread of e-commerce in Egypt. The statement enumerated a number of broad policies to encourage the development and use of e-commerce:  private sector leadership, minimal government regulations and restrictions, government encouragement of self-regulation, duty-free treatment of digital goods of value, and promotion of cooperation among all countries. (USIS, 1999)  A large number of these policies are a restatement of the privatization, liberalization and deregulation recommendations made by Egypt’s international donors/partners for the previous two decades – only the duty-free treatment policy directly reflects IT’s new relevance on the world stage.

      Soon after the above statements, November 9, 1999, Ahmed Nazif, the Minister of Telecommunications and Information publicly announced the inception of a new government program for the development of the IT sector. New legislation covering intellectual property rights, commercial, financial and legal issues will be proposed.  In addition, the GOE will provide exemptions on customs duties and taxes to exporters of computer programs and offer new incentives for international joint ventures in the sector.  This new effort closely mirrors the conclusions of the recently concluded Harvard study of the software sector. (ArabicNews.com)