Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and the United Nations (UN) have signed a Memorandum of understanding to launch a UN African Technology Innovation Lab (UNTIL) headquartered in Egypt.
The MoU was signed on the second day of the 21st Cairo ICT, held in Cairo earlier this month under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The launch of this lab comes within the framework of the UN plan to deploy a set of technological innovation labs across the world, one or more in each continent. Egypt was selected to headquarter the UNTIL of Africa.
The UNTIL will be established in the Smart Village west of Cairo, at the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (TIEC). It will focus on education of persons with disability, prevention of epidemics, medical tourism, waste management, and rationalising water consumption in agriculture.
Solutions will be developed using open source software and open data. Egypt will cooperate with the labs established around the world to achieve integration and confront challenges through exchange of experience and tools.