((Quoting by the official page of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research))

The Minister of Higher Education announces the launch of the "National Policy for Sustainable Innovation" within the National Strategy for Higher Education and Scientific Research

_ Four Key Axes for Sustainable Innovation Application:

Making talent available, transferring technology, providing finance, and improving the working environment.

_ Transforming Egypt into an innovative and sustainable knowledge society and enhancing the competitiveness of the State regionally and globally.

In light of the strategic directions of the Egyptian State towards supporting innovation and entrepreneurship and linking scientific research to productive sectors, as directed by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Dr. Ayman Ashour, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, announced the launch of the "National Policy for Sustainable Innovation" as a strategic framework aimed at transforming Egypt into an innovative and sustainable knowledge society, within the national strategy for higher education and scientific research.

During an interactive session organized by the Ministry, in the presence of a group of university presidents, research centers, ministry leaders, government representatives, businesses, and industry, the Minister stressed that enhancing the role of innovation is a top priority at the current stage, in line with the State's interest in maximizing the role of universities in developing the economy, providing a catalytic climate for the production of knowledge, promoting scientific research and increasing cooperation between universities, industry, and the business community. Moreover, this contributes to supporting the competitiveness of the State regionally and globally, leveraging scientific research in the face of economic challenges, and achieving sustainable development, explaining that today's world is divided among users of knowledge. We also seek this new policy to produce and export knowledge and become a regional center for innovation and creativity investing in Egypt's human capabilities of creators and innovators.

Furthermore, Dr. Ayman Ashour pointed out that the launch of this policy comes to implement one of the principles of the National Strategy for Higher Education and Scientific Research, which is the principle of "Innovation and entrepreneurship", as well as the implementation of the presidential initiative "Alliance and Development". He also appreciated the efforts of attendees from representatives of academia, industry, business, and government, who are partners in implementing the initiative. Hence, he thanked their contribution to all steps of the implementation of the strategy and the initiative "Alliance and development", and the resulting tangible successful steps underscored the commitment of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to implement this policy in cooperation with all partners, to achieve sustainable development and enhance Egypt's position in the fields of innovation and scientific research at the global level.

The Minister reviewed the plans of action being implemented to follow up on the operationalization of the seven principles of the Strategy: (Integration, interdisciplinary, communication, effective participation, sustainability, international reference, entrepreneurship, and innovation), and linking it with the "Alliance and Development" initiative.

In addition, Dr. Ayman Ashour pointed out during his presentation the Ministry's tireless efforts to develop the system of higher education and scientific research to the scale of the expansion of the establishment of civil and technological universities, with the number of Egyptian universities reaching 116 International academic and research partnerships and cooperation between research and industry institutions Strengthening Egypt's position as a regional center for research, development, and entrepreneurship, The Egyptian universities and research centers have made progress in international classifications.

Dr. Ayman Ashour pointed out that these efforts were reflected in Egypt's improved ranking in the Global Innovation Index New York, where it advanced to 86^th in the 2024 report, compared to 96^th in 2020, and the appearance of more than a thousand distinguished researchers on the Stanford list, increasing the number of start-ups. Egypt became the first Africa and the third Middle East in the size of investments in 2024, and Greater Cairo Region is among the world's best scientific and technological gathering ", reflecting the success of strategies in promoting the innovation environment in Egypt, He thanked the Egyptian Knowledge Graph and Egyptian Knowledge Initiative. He also praised the Bank's role in increasing the international publishing rate publicizing Egyptian scientific research globally and achieving a breakthrough in publishing in international scientific journals.

The Minister then explained that the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has an integrated innovation support system that includes universities, research centers, and specialized councils. As part of the implementation of the National Policy on Sustainable Innovation, a high-level committee has been formed, comprising representatives of the various sectors of government, industry, investment, universities, and research centers. The Commission worked to collect and analyze data and legislation related to innovation and scientific research and review the leading international and Arab experiences in this area, as well as identify the strengths and weaknesses of the national innovation system and the formulation of a national policy document for sustainable innovation, to achieve complementarity with Egypt's development goals.

Therefore, the Minister reviewed the strategic framework of the National Policy for Sustainable Innovation, which is based on a vision to transform Egypt into an innovative and sustainable knowledge society. The National Policy for Sustainable Innovation`s mission is to employ innovation to create value and promote sustainability in the productive and service sectors, thereby contributing to improving quality of life and enhancing Egypt's competitiveness regionally and globally.

The overall policy framework seeks to achieve several strategic directions, including developing the higher education system, developing research human resources, creating a national business environment to stimulate innovation, enhancing innovation's contribution to development, and integrating scientific research, industry, and investment.

The National Sustainable Innovation Policy also includes a series of four key sub-policies, programs, and initiatives: talent availability, technology transfer, financing, and improvement of the working environment, along with three key themes: capacity building research and development, removing the gap between research and development and innovation, and building innovation capacity.

The National Policy for Sustainable Innovation has set target performance indicators by 2030, most notably Egypt's being among the top 50 countries in the Global Innovation Index and achieving an economic return equivalent to five times the amount of investment spent on implementing the policy.