• Home
• News

The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), has officially opened applications for Egyptian startups in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector to join the "ITIDA Innovation Bridge: Egypt × Japan" program. The initiative aims to connect Egyptian startups with leading Japanese companies to develop tech solutions that address real-world business challenges.

The program provides Egyptian startups with the opportunity to collaborate with Japanese corporations to develop Proof of Concept (PoC) models for their solutions, testing their capability to solve specific challenges across various economic and technological sectors.

7 Business Challenges for Egyptian Startups

The program presents seven distinct business challenges spanning the circular economy, manufacturing, health retail, insurtech, creative industries, media, and intellectual property.

Challenge 1: Developing solutions for the digital tracking and recycling of e-waste, utilizing technology to effectively monitor recycling operations.

Challenge 2: Focusing on AI-powered production planning, creating opportunities for startups that offer artificial intelligence solutions for manufacturing and production workflows.

Challenge 3: In the health retail sector, the program challenges startups to develop data-driven marketing solutions specifically tailored for pharmacies.

Two Challenges in Insurtech

The program dedicates two specific challenges to the Insurtech sector:

Challenge 4: Developing digital channels for commercial vehicle fleet insurance.

Challenge 5: Providing digital insurance solutions tailored for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

These challenges provide a platform for startups specializing in digital insurance solutions to present technologies that fulfill the operational needs of Japanese companies in this space.

Egypt as a Base for Anime Production

Expanding into the creative industries, the program introduces:

Challenge 6: Leveraging Egypt as a hub for Anime production, opening doors for companies operating in digital production, technology, and the broader creative sectors.

Challenge 7: Focusing on tracking and audience data analysis for licensed intellectual property (IP). This involves utilizing tech and data analytics to monitor IP usage and better understand the associated consumer audience.

The core objective of the "ITIDA Innovation Bridge: Egypt × Japan" program is to foster cross-border collaboration between the Egyptian startup ecosystem and the Japanese business sector. By matching the innovative solutions of Egyptian startups with the operational challenges of Japanese firms, the two sides can work jointly to develop and implement viable PoC models.

The initiative has set Saturday, October 17, 2026, as the final deadline for receiving applications from Egyptian startups wishing to participate and pitch their solutions for any of the seven outlined challenges.