Egypt

The trends of globalization, the digital economy, the information evolution and the development of knowledge-based societies enticed so many nations to invest in its information infrastructure with its diverse building blocks. Egypt, as a developing nation has been going through a number of socioeconomic transformations which were facilitated and hindered at one point or another by the development, deployment and institutionalization of information and communication technology. The introduction of computing to Egypt started in the 1960s and ever since that date it witnessed massive developments especially since the mid 1980s. In 1999, a new vehicle was introduced at the highest policy formulation level to reflect the interest of the government in deploying advanced information and communication technology for development and growth and that is the ministry of communications and information technology. This paper describes the current status of information technology diffusion in Egypt and its impact on the nation’s socioeconomic development and growth.

Emerging information and communication technology (ICT) is setting the pace for a changing, competitive and dynamic global marketplace and representing an enabling platform for business and socioeconomic development in the 21st century. In that respect, developing nations are urged to keep pace regularly with the developments taking place in the developed world through the design and implementation of plans for universal access in terms of ICT literacy and its effective utilization for developmental purposes. It is important to note that building the ICT infrastructure will not realize quantum leaps in the development process unless it is coupled with concrete projects and activities that engage the community at large with its different stakeholders irrespective of their locations whether urban or remote, gender or background. This paper describes the evolution of the ICT sector in Egypt over the last decade as an integral element of the nation’s overall development process within the context of a an emerging economy and the various growing potentials ICT offers for its socioeconomic development.

Since ancient history, Egypt has witnessed massive information flows through different means. This included inscription on Rosetta stones and papyrus papers and the establishment of the library of Alexandrina, the world’s first and most famous library and the gateway for knowledge creation and accessibility (Kamel 1998a). During the middle ages, Arabic manuscripts became one of the most common means for information and knowledge dissemination. In the modern age, paper printing and publishing started in Egypt during the 19th century witnessing the publishing of the first journal in Egypt in 1826. A few years later in 1830, Egypt witnessed the establishment of the first national archive system (Kamel 1998b). However, in the twentieth century prior to 1985, a number of characteristics identified the status of information in Egypt. The country was rich in data but poor in information; known for accumulated bureaucracy through red tape; computers were viewed as ends and not means and there were islands of innovation with no bridges (Kamel 1999 and 1998b). From a government perspective, the focus was more on technical issues and not decision outcomes; there was poor multisector coordination and no synergy between information and socioeconomic development strategies.  Given this reality, even as information and communications technology (ICT) was increasingly becoming a necessity for socioeconomic development (Press 1999), the government of Egypt recognized the need to take proactive measures and build the required information infrastructure. The strategy deployed followed a two-tier approach, inviting society with its different stakeholders to contribute in shaping the infostructure, which in turn would effectively contribute to the socioeconomic development (World Bank 2006). Between 1985 and 2007, the government announced nine major policy initiatives to promote the development of Egypt’s information society (Kamel 2007). Since the early 1990s, Egypt has been undergoing a liberalization program of its public sector. The government has announced that it would invest in its human capital, encourage foreign direct investment (FDI) and emphasize innovative ICT as a platform for business and socioeconomic development. (Kamel 2005a) The government in collaboration with the private sector through a variety of public-private sector partnerships has announced the restructuring of sectors such as education and health as well as working on closing the digital divides and promoting social inclusion.  This chapter examines the introduction and diffusion of ICT on Egyptian society and the role it played in providing awareness and access to knowledge to different clusters in the community. The chapter addresses four main research questions. These include: Whether and How did ICT become a vehicle for development and a platform to access knowledge? How did ICT for development policy and strategy formulation and infrastructure deployment evolve? What were the challenges and the lessons learnt from efforts aimed at using ICT for socioeconomic development? and What are the implications of diffusing ICT on access to knowledge in the Egyptian society?

Emerging information and communication technology (ICT) is setting the pace for a changing, competitive and dynamic global marketplace, representing an invaluable vehicle for socioeconomic development and introducing new forms and structures of organizations that are no longer affected by geographical or time barriers. Egypt, as a developing nation, with an emerging economy, has realized the potentials of ICT since the 1960s and has increasingly invested in building its infostructure and infrastructure during 1980s but it was in the 1990s that ICT was put on the national agenda as an enabler for development and a gateway to the knowledge society. The government in collaboration with different stakeholders has implemented a number of projects to diffuse ICT for development with implications that varied across different sectors and communities. The chapter intends to describe the evolution of the ICT sector to draw on the experiences of the role of ICT in development in the context of an emerging economy. Finally, the chapter addresses the challenges and opportunities made available by using ICT for development and the related socioeconomic implications on the society.

Managing after the Arab Spring: investing in human capital is fundamental to socioeconomic development and growth in the MENA region. In the wake of economic challenges induced by recent political instability, MENA management education programs face unprecedented challenges and opportunities to influence the next generation of revolutionary business leaders and entrepreneurs. 

The information and communication technology infrastructure and the development of electronic commerce are both playing an increasingly active role changing and growing the global economy in a digital way. The implications are wide and diversified including the facilitation of trade transactions and acceleration of movement of capital through innovative rules irrespective of time and distance differences. Electronic commerce could be beneficial to business and socioeconomic development in the north (developed world) as well as in the south (developing nations) but the impacts could vary in density and in effectiveness due to one critical challenge and that is the growing digital divide emerging between developed and developing nations as well as within developing nations which could deepen income and wealth inequalities. Therefore, the government role in developing nations in preventing the widening of the digital divide is becoming increasingly vital with implications that vary and affect business, culture and the society at large. During the past two decades, electronic commerce had diversified impacts on organizations of all types and sizes. Such impacts differed from one country to another and from one environment to another pending on the local conditions and the adaptation of the society. The implications related to the management style and leadership of organizations, its vision, mission and strategies, policies, governance, the organizational learning, ethics and culture among other elements. This chapter demonstrates the role of the government of Egypt in introducing, diffusing and institutionalizing electronic commerce which represents a challenge and an opportunity for development and hence needing an institutionalized role to regulate it. This chapter introduces electronic commerce in Egypt with a focus on the prevailing status and the institutional role of the government to regulate electronic commerce and develop the electronic trading industry.

During the 1960s computing was introduced to Egypt. Its use and applications was limited to the government and the public sector. During the 1980s the introduction and diffusion of computing was widespread following the global personal computer evolution. Personal computers effectively affected organizational development and growth due to the continuous developments in the information technology industry and caused by hardware penetration, software innovations, and the build-up of the telecommunications infrastructure. This paper assesses the software industry in Egypt as a major building block of the information technology industry and a possible active contributor to business and socioeconomic development at large.

Learning is the most indispensable activity in the current knowledge-based economy where firms, in order to compete and survive, must be constantly alert, capable of adapting to fast change, constantly learn, evolve, and transform themselves rapidly. In that respect, the use of innovative information and communication technology is perceived to play a key role in the development of new learning platforms and mechanisms. One of the emerging solutions is electronic training “eTraining”, which is a growing trend and is expected to become crucial in meeting newly introduced challenges and in catering for changing and diversified market needs. The global connectivity of the Internet and the availability of innovative information and communication technology are factors that have contributed in catalyzing the new Internet-based learning paradigm offering great opportunities for organizations to educate and train their management and staff. However, Internet-based training poses several considerable challenges for various organizations especially those operating in developing countries. Within the context of transferring and using information and communication technology into developing countries, this paper demonstrates the outcome of a research aiming at investigating the effectiveness and applicability of Internet-based training in providing training for organizations in Egypt. The focus of the research was mainly soliciting the opinions of three different groups of stakeholders; human resources or training managers responsible for setting training policies; instructors responsible for facilitating courses and preparing material; and trainees undertaking the training. 

Between the 20th and the 21st centuries, hundreds of fatwās  and articles on homosexuality were published, especially on religious websites and magazines across the entire Islamic world. Over the same period, homosexual acts started to become important in Egypt from a legal standpoint, with male homosexuality beginning to be criminalised even though in the country there is no law against it. A law against prostitution, which in the former years was not used to criminalise homosexual acts, was used for this purpose. There is a close interrelation between these two phenomena, because fatwās and verdicts are both products of the same dominant discourse. I build here on Foucault’s definition of discourses not only as linguistic signs, but also ‘as practices that systematically form the objects of which they speak. Of course, discourses are composed of signs, but what they do is more than use these signs to designate things’ (Foucault 1972, 49; Diaz-Bone et al. 2007). Talking about discourse does not merely involve talking about a description of things, because the way we speak about objects creates them and has discursive, as well as non-discursive consequences. In this case, the non-discursive consequences can be traced to the actual imprisonment of homosexuals. In this paper, I analyse this dominant anti-homosexuality discourse in Egypt, looking at both religious and judicial sources, and I will show how this discourse is shared by different categories of actors. My primary sources are contemporary fatwās and articles published on different leading religious websites and magazines and religious books starting from the end of the 20th century and coeval Egyptian judicial verdicts.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Egypt has conducted comprehensive reforms aiming to liberalize the state-controlled financial sector. This article analyses the possible impact of these reforms on the political sphere, arguing that financial liberalization could enhance the political independence of members of the private sector, helping them to play a more influential role in Egyptian politics leading to greater political liberalization. The empirical analysis of the Egyptian reform process does not support this assumed causality. Design and sequencing of financial reforms benefited first and foremost members of the entrepreneurial elite close to the regime. Nevertheless, financial reforms impact on power relations in Egypt by strengthening the position of these large-scale entrepreneurs within the political decision-making process.

Master thesis: Informal Urban Settlements and Intervention Strategies to Approach them“An applied study on Amrawy Informal Settlement, Alexandria”
Aims: The research discusses in three chapters the critical problem of informal urban settlements and the reasons behind their emergence and growth, their characteristics and the consequences of their existence, the intervention strategies to approach them, the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy. The research also analyzes several informal urban settlements upgrading programs and highlights their points of strength and weakness.
Deliverables: Based on the analysis the study suggests  recommendations and solutions for the causes of the Informal Urban settlements, by which the emergence and growth of them in Egypt can be stopped and prevented. It also includes general recommendations about working on urban upgrading programs to initiate and sustain adequate successful programs which meet goals. The success of solutions depends on political will , governance and cooperation between  people and authorities.