EU and Egyptian Higher Education launch ‘Innovation Day’

CAIRO – 9 October 2017: The European Union’s (EU) Delegation to Egypt and the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research launched on Monday the "EU-Egypt Higher Education, Research and Innovation Day" to showcase existing – and promote further –cooperation in those fields.

Around 200 stakeholders from academic institutions, researchers, business community, and other organizations participated in the event, where EU member states presented their higher education, research and innovation programs to promote cooperation between the EU and Egyptian organizations.

Sandra De Waele, deputy head of the EU Delegation to Egypt, Dr. Essam Khamis, deputy minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and Dr. Ahmed al-Gioushy, deputy minister of Education, inaugurated the event.

De Waele said the EU strongly believes that research, science and innovation can make a significant contribution to addressing the most urgent challenges in Egypt, noting that they can help create sustainable jobs both in Egypt and Europe.

"Egypt`s leading role in EU–Mediterranean initiatives in research and science diplomacy is commendable, and we are glad to note the very good track record of Egypt`s participation in the EU programmes, including Horizon 2020 (H2020)," stated De Waele.

Egypt successfully participated in 27 new projects under (H2020) which covered topics including cancer research, eco-fishing, Nano-technology, and water research, and benefited from various initiatives supporting Egyptian researchers' mobility.

"H2020 will launch its new calls on October 27 and I hope that students, researchers and institutions in Egypt will continue to benefit from the new grants available," she added.

De Waele mentioned several EU-funded programmes that link research and innovation with key stakeholders such as the industry, business community and the society.

"One of the flagship activities that the EU has supported is the "Famelab" competition, in partnership with the British Council. Thanks to this initiative hundreds of young Egyptians have competed to show their talents in communicating science to the public," De Waele added.

She stated that between 2008 and 2014, around 1,000 Egyptian students benefited from EU-sponsored scholarships. During the same period, Egyptian institutions participated in 49 Tempus projects, involving 29 Egyptian universities.

“Tempus projects have played a key role in promoting the internationalisation and modernisation of Egyptian higher education institutions," stated De Waele.

De Waele pointed out that the third call for proposals the EU is launching this month is under Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education.

"I highly encourage all of you to keep Egypt one of the top participating countries as it has been in the last years," she concluded.