Egyptian Pilot Commercialization Program
On November 25th four technology finalists were announced in Cairo, Egypt, capping off a three-and-one-half month pilot project between the Science and Technology Development Fund (STDF), a part of the Egyptian Ministry of Scientific Research, and IC2 Institute.
In the initial phase, 45 technologies were analyzed to determine those that had the most commercialization potential. Submitted technologies covered a range of industries including the medical, agricultural, material science and environmental fields. Commercialization experts from the United States traveled to Cairo to assess the technologies give feedback to the innovators and speak on topics such as intellectual property protection, presentation skills and technology analysis methods.
The top 10 technologies were then analyzed further by commercialization experts in the United States and reports were given to each of the innovators on their technologies’ strengths and weaknesses to enter the US Market. During the same period, two managers from the STDF underwent an intensive one-month training at the IC2 Institute, learning about different aspects of commercialization ranging from analysis, market research networks, incubation techniques, funding strategies and IP protection.
“The level of science we saw surpassed our expectations, and we believe that Egypt has the potential to be a regional leader for innovation and commercialization,” said Erik Azulay, IC2 Institute Program Manager of the Egyptian Science and Technology Initiative.
The 10 finalists made their presentations to a panel of three international judges in Cairo, Egypt on November 23 - 24. The four technologies judged to have the highest potential for successful international commercialization will be awarded a minimum of USD$15K each by the STDF, as well as ongoing support and training to help bring the technologies to market.
Congratulations to the four finalists for their success in the program: Dr. Magdy El Nashar, National Research Center for his hydrogel for immobilization of enzymes; Dr. Naglaa Abdallah, Cairo University and AGERI for her controlling plant disease via whitefly vectors; Dr. Morsi El Soda, Alexandria University for his bacterial culture for production of low-fat cheese; and Dr. Maha Mounir, Pharos University for her dental pulp regeneration.
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