The Minister of Higher Education heads the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Fund for the Care of Innovators and Geniuses

Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, headed the periodic meeting of the Board of Directors of the Fund for the Care of Innovators and Geniuses, in the presence of Dr. Yasser Refaat, Deputy Minister for Scientific Research Affairs, Dr. Mahmoud Saqr, President of the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, Dr. Muhammad Amer, Executive Director of the Fund, and members of the Council, at the headquarters Ministry.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Minister stressed the importance of spreading scientific culture and raising awareness of the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship in our daily lives, stressing the importance of supporting the Innovators and Genius Fund to support the goals of the state to reach a knowledge-based economy, explaining that the culture of innovation must be developed through holding several seminars and workshops for young people of different ages, noting that the Ministry pays great attention to innovation and invention, by providing available support; To take advantage of these innovations and inventions, adding the importance of integration and coordination between all concerned parties inside and outside the ministry to achieve the objectives of the fund.

Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar pointed out that the fund aims to support, finance and sponsor researchers, innovators and science, technology and innovation projects, and to find new and advanced mechanisms for financing them, pointing out that the coming period will witness more interest in innovation, and the implementation of new mechanisms to embrace the ideas of innovators, stressing that priority will be for ideas that have Economic returns and supports the national industry to reduce dependence on importing our needs from abroad.

Dr. Mohamed Amer reviewed a report on the activity and progress of work in the fund during the last period, the work plan, and the programs that will be launched in the coming period.

During the meeting, it was announced the launch of the fund's website and social media pages, updating their content on an ongoing basis, creating an electronic platform to communicate with innovators and geniuses, as well as creating databases to register experts, bodies and advisory offices in various fields who will cooperate with the fund to perform its tasks, in addition to activating a smart system for electronic correspondence, the fund enables it to communicate with the registrants on a regular basis to receive all the news of the fund in the way they prefer.

The Board approved the proposed strategic plan for the fund during the period from 2021-2024, adding an executive plan for a period of 12 months, as well as a proposal for the fund’s organizational structure and the functions of the fund’s various departments.

The Board also approved the launch of the “Marketing Acceleration” program, which serves as a basic platform for the Fund’s business and can be expanded to cover more than one of the Fund’s objectives, such as providing technical and scientific support for developing ideas, providing support for patent registration, providing market and feasibility studies, and implementing patent prototypes, Invention, partnership and establishment of companies to implement patents and innovations economically.

A package of programs was launched that aim at spreading culture and raising awareness of the importance of innovation and invention for different age groups was launched in different ways. The package includes several programs that are presented periodically to youth, youth and innovators through holding seminars and workshops on innovation, holding an international innovation conference and exhibition, and issuing a magazine to publish The culture of innovation in Arabic, and the Innovation Corner program aimed at developing innovative talents for children aged 4-15 years by providing different games, tools and educational materials suitable for every age, as well as announcing the ISF Club to accept volunteers from university students and graduates to train and participate in them In organizing and implementing some of the fund's activities.

The Board of Directors approved the signing by the Fund of a cooperation protocol with the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology to implement the “Apply Your Patent” program, which aims to transform technical information on topics and information about patents and utility models protected in accordance with the Egyptian Intellectual Property Rights Protection Law No. 82 of 2002 into industrial products that are marketable and offered commercial; With the aim of supporting the knowledge economy, raising the level of technology in the Egyptian market and industry products, and contributing to the production of highly competitive innovative products in the Egyptian market.

The Council also agreed to cooperate with the Education Sector of the Ministry of Education in the project funded by the USAID, which aims to improve STEM students in the field of intellectual property and innovation.

It is worth noting that the Fund is preparing a program to provide scholarships to innovators and talented students to complete their studies at home and abroad. The program will include scientific foundations that comply with international standards for selecting the best applicants through a competitive advertisement detailing all the details and criteria. Individuals and the private sector will also be encouraged to cooperate with the fund to achieve its goals.