Scientific and Technological Development of Egypt in the XXI Century
Author:
Sergey Volkov
Abstract:
The author analyzes the scientific and technological development of modern Egypt, which the country’s leadership considers to be one of the main means for building a knowledge economy and ensuring national sovereignty. The current Constitution of Egypt contains a provision on the priority development of science and technology, as well as the obligation of the state to increase the share of spending for these purposes to 1% of GDP.
Using mainly data from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, as well as papers of Egyptian scientists, the author draws a detailed picture of the current state of science and technology in Egypt. He also provides data on their development plans until the 2021/22 financial year, according to which public investment for these purposes should be increased to 1.2% of GDP. This will not only strengthen the material base for the development of science and technology, significantly increase the number of researchers, their salaries and publication activity, but also create favorable conditions for improving the commercialization of scientific achievements. To this end, the country’s government is building science cities, encouraging the conclusion of scientific and technological alliances that combine the capabilities of science and business, and creating a favorable regulatory environment and incubators for the development of national startups, one of which has already turned into a unicorn.
All this strengthens Egypt’s position as one of the leaders of scientific and technological progress in Africa.
Keywords:
Egypt, scientific and technical development, international cooperation, knowledge and technology alliance, science city, startup
DOI:
10.31132/2412-5717-2020-53-4-43-54
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