Cairo ranked among top 100 global science and technology clusters by WIPO

CAIRO – 27 August 2024: Dr. Hesham Azmy, Chairman of the Egyptian Intellectual Property Authority, announced that Cairo has secured the 95th position among the top 100 science and technology clusters in the 2024 Global Innovation Index.

This achievement marks Cairo as the only cluster in North Africa to make the list, according to the "Science and Technology Clusters" report by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

In a statement to the Middle East News Agency on Tuesday, Dr. Azmy highlighted that this accomplishment is evidence of the continuous efforts made by Egypt’s institutions and bodies involved in innovation and technology to enhance their performance and maximize the use of their strengths in this field. It also reflects the ongoing and exceptional coordination between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egyptians Abroad, and the Permanent Mission in Geneva, and WIPO.

The report revealed that research institutions, innovators, and inventors in Cairo filed 166 patent applications with WIPO under the Patent Cooperation Treaty from 2019 to 2023, with 18% of these related to medical technologies. Additionally, 18% of the total patents were co-authored with inventors from Boston, Cambridge, and Montreal. Furthermore, nearly 23,000 scientific articles were published in Cairo from 2018 to 2022, with 22% focusing on chemistry.

The "Science and Technology Clusters" index is a key component of the annual Global Innovation Index published by WIPO. It analyzes patent activity under the international patent system managed by WIPO, alongside the rate of scientific article publication and the documentation of geographic areas worldwide with the highest concentration of inventors.

It is noteworthy that cooperation between Egypt and WIPO has significantly advanced in recent years, particularly following the visit of WIPO Director General Daren Tang to Cairo in September 2022, during which he met with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and participated in the launch of the National Intellectual Property Strategy.

Egypt’s collaboration with WIPO covers various areas aimed at supporting the intellectual property system in the country, enhancing innovation and technology, and driving economic growth and sustainable development. This cooperation also includes support for the recently established Egyptian Intellectual Property Authority.