English 
Within the framework of the interest of the Egyptian state and the Innovators Support Fund (ISF) in supporting innovators and entrepreneurs, and under the auspices of Dr. Mohamed Ayman Ashour, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and Dr. Abdelaziz Konsowa, President of Alexandria University, Dr. Ali Abdelmohsen, Acting Vice President of Alexandria University for Education and Student Affairs, witnessed on Sunday 1 September 2024 the final qualifiers for the Startup Olympics 2024 program, which was implemented for the first year with the participation of 65 universities across the Arab Republic of Egypt. These regional qualifiers for the Gen-Z 2024 program at the Alexandria region level were also attended by Dr. Hani Ayad, Executive Director of the Innovators Support Fund (ISF), Dr. Mohamed El Gohary, President of Borg El Arab University of Technology, Dr. Ayman El Shetewi, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Business, Alexandria University, and Dr. Ghada El Khayat, Executive Director of the Centre for Educational Innovations and Distance Learning and Director of PILOT Incubator at Alexandria University.
In his speech, Dr. Ali Abdelmohsen stressed that Alexandria University is proud to host this major event, especially since sponsoring innovators and geniuses from students and researchers is one of the most important strategies adopted by Alexandria University by linking the outputs of scientific research to industry. He added that the large attendance of innovative students reflects that the large base of Egyptian university students is Egypt's bright future, noting that Alexandria University encourages its brilliant and innovative students to work on their projects and apply them on the ground, to solve the problems and challenges facing the Alexandrian community. He stressed the importance of these Olympiads as a means of supporting and embracing young innovators, researchers, and students who have innovative ideas and want to develop them and transform them into a real business model and establish start-up companies for them.
Dr. Hani Ayad confirmed that 65 Egyptian universities and research centres participated in the competition, and pointed out that the competition comes in fulfilment of the political leadership's desire to sponsor innovators and start-ups and to achieve the axes of the National Strategy for Higher Education and Scientific Research, adding that full support will be provided to the participating teams with financial funding of up to 2 million Egyptian pounds to support their ideas and projects.
Dr. Ayman El-Shetewi pointed out that today is the culmination of a long journey that began on January 1, 2024, when the Innovators Support Fund at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research launched a group of competitions in universities, Startup Olympics 2024. El-Shetewi added that the Egyptian state supports with all its efforts the field of entrepreneurship and small projects for their role in advancing the Egyptian economy, as is the case in the economies of emerging countries, and noted that the Faculty of Business at Alexandria University is proud to host this momentum of pioneering and creative ideas presented by researchers and students.
Dr. Mohamed El Gohary thanked the administration of Alexandria University, headed by Dr. Abdelaziz Konsowa, for hosting these qualifiers, noting that this stresses the pioneering role of Alexandria University in providing full support for students and researchers, and giving them the appropriate environment to develop their projects and work to direct their energy towards projects that benefit them and society alike.
Dr. Ghada El-Khayat pointed out that the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research launched a group of competitions through the Innovators Support Fund (ISF) under the name of the Startup Olympics since the beginning of 2024 in more than 65 Egyptian universities, noting that student teams and research teams have submitted their pioneering projects and creative ideas, stressing that Alexandria University has submitted 107 projects in a precedent that is the first of its kind. El-Khayat confirmed that the group of applicants were trained in several training camps to qualify them to present their ideas to the arbitration committees, adding that the arbitration committees included representatives from the university, the business community, industrialists, and representatives from the Ministry of Higher Education. El-Khayat added that the winners of this stage were qualified in the TV program Gen-z, and the winners of the final competition will receive prizes and distinguished incubation opportunities.