The Egyptian Space Agency, in partnership with the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, has announced the launch of the Egyptian Space Startup Hub within the National Program for Technological Incubators Launch (INTILAC) at the Academy of Science and Technology.
The entrepreneurship field has imposed itself and emerged as a significant hub of creativity and innovation and perhaps has the most outstanding share of local and global attention for its influential role in encouraging the spirit of creativity and innovation, establishing an infrastructure that can withstand the challenges of infrastructural and technical development, and unemployment, as well as, its ability to exploit and divert available resources to unprecedented economic opportunities and job creation.
The National Program for Technological Incubators aims to help entrepreneurs with an idea or innovation in a field set up a startup. It is one of the driving factors in economic development programs to increase the success rate of start-ups. More importantly, the programme’s primary goals are to create jobs in the local economy, market technologies, and meet new business needs.
Thus, the Egyptian Space Startup Hub aims to help innovative start-ups that have the potential to have a significant impact on the local economy in all spheres related to space activities in various fields and provide them with the following tasks:
- Guide startups or projects on how to compete with top players in the industry;
- Assist with fundamentals of entrepreneurship;
- Help start-ups to provide operating costs, as well as initial financing of up to 200 thousand Egyptian pounds, and technical, industrial, consulting and administrative services;
- Provide marketing assistance and support in market research and brand building;
- Provide logistics services from (work offices – telecommunications – transfers – administrative and financial works);
- Boost the credibility of the startups, which can help the company to obtain investments and credit facilities from financial institutions and increase access to investors and investment capital;
- Create a strong network of influential entities which can connect startups or projects with businesses and experienced individuals; and
- Organise comprehensive training programs in business operations and development.
The startup hub will function in all activities related to the space industry, and the initiative brings together administrative, financial and legal systems for the space sector; technological and industrial systems of satellite systems and vehicles; Earth systems software, integrated systems and artificial intelligence systems; sensors and different portable systems in the fields of communication, navigation, sensing, earth monitoring and space exploration; and various applications and uses of space technology in support of sustainable development in different spheres (industry – communications – agriculture – education – resource management – future planning – health – entertainment – border protection and monitoring)
Startups can apply to be part of the hub if they meet the following criteria:
- An innovative idea or a prototype to solve a problem related to the space industry – and other related fields;
- A team of two to five people, including inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs or recent graduates;
- A technologically oriented and feasible solution that serves national challenges (Egypt Plan 2030);
- In the case of a company, it must have been founded less than three years since the advertisement was released, September 1st, 2022; and
- Has never embraced the idea of a project in an incubator.
Applications are now open, and interested teams must register through this link. In addition, an inquiry session will be held to answer all questions every Monday during the application period from 1 to 3 pm EET through the Egyptian Space Agency Incubator website for three weeks. For more information, visit here.