Information & Communications Technology
ITIDA chairman outlines agency’s strategy
On February 6, AmCham’s Information & Communications Technology Committee hosted guest speaker Hazem Abdel Azim, chairman of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), for a presentation entitled “ITIDA strategy going forward: what’s next?”
Abdel Azim began with a brief overview of ITIDA, a governmental entity that was established via Law 15/2004 to develop Egypt’s IT industry. He outlined the agency’s objectives, which are developing and regulating e-signature, promoting awareness and regulating intellectual property rights (IPR) of software and databases, encouraging investment in the software industry, and participating in the fight against software piracy. In addition, ITIDA is charged with developing and implementing the national IT export strategy.
He went on to list ITIDA’s action items for 2008, which include the implementation of planned programs concerning IT exports. Initiatives discussed included the selection of priority verticals/regions, analysis and positioning of Egyptian IT companies and developing a comprehensive database of local IT companies, as most firms claim to offer services across the spectrum, but do not have strong horizontal positioning. He also mentioned that most firms focus primarily on application development and deployment, and are small in size, making them good candidates for partnerships with larger companies.
ITIDA is recommending action in three areas: corporate action, in which Egyptian IT firms target the Gulf market; capacity building, in which ITIDA’s programs help strengthen the capabilities of local IT firms; and marketing action, in which MCIT and ITIDA help promote local IT firms.
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