Science and innovation in Egypt initiated, when mankind began to populate the valley of the Nile. Ancient Egyptians were leaders in scientific discoveries and innovation, which turned Egypt into the world cradle of civilization.

Throughout history, Egyptian scientists have contributed to the advancement of science and to the foundation of different sciences, such as astronomy, chemistry, medicine and engineering. Many of their achievements remain enigmas, like the construction of the pyramids and the practice of mummification, and so on and so forth.

Egypt’s contributions towards science and technology, are not restricted to ancient Egyptians’ achievements. During the middle ages and the

Ibn al-Haytham

Islamic civilization, many Muslim scientists, who made major contributions to human knowledge, were working in Egypt. These include giants such as Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn Al-Nafis and others. Cairo, along with Bagdad and Damascus, were acting as Mecca for the European researchers.

In more recent decades too, Egypt has given birth to many prominent scientists, whose contributions to science and technology, have added immense value to our knowledge. Examples of these include, Mustafa Meshrafa, Ahmed Zewail, Farouk El-Baz, MagdyYakoub, Moustafa El-Saayed and many others.

Ahmed Zewail once wrote in an article in an Egyptian newsletter (AlmasryAlyoum, August 2011),

“We do not want to just take pride in our history, but we need to work in order to shape the future, that Egypt deserves.” It is painful but true, that science and technology in Egypt has had an insignificant impact on Egyptian life and society – particularly in the modern times. Egypt, who lead the world of science and innovation in the old ages, is suffering from illiteracy and knowledge deficiency today. If we aim to understand the reasons behind this phenomena,we need to briefly explore the current state of science, technology and innovation (STI), in Egypt.

The recent global competitiveness report for 2013-2014, produced by the World Economic Forum (WEF), offers a distinctive summary of the major challenges facing STI development in Egypt. According to the report, Egypt’s primary education ranked last in its list of priorities and development initiatives. Looking at it from this lens, it is all too obvious why science is in such a bad state in Egypt today. How can one do good science without receiving a good education. Farouk El-Baz has famously said: “The way for real development lies in education.”

The low quality in education, unfortunately, is not limited to primary education, but lasts through different stages of education, including,the university level. The number of university students, exceeds the capacities and resources available in Egyptian universities, which in turn, is reflected in the quality of its graduates. Universities direct their already limited resources, towards education, and hence, research lies low on their priorities. Research centers, as a result, are major victims of deterioration, owing to the paucity of resources.

In addition, tenure contracts, not particularly linked with performance, applied in all Egyptian universities and research centers, cause de-motivation and kill the competition, among staff and researchers.

Another major issue is, that laws governing the STI in Egypt, are outdated and hinder scientific development in the country. The applied laws do not allow importing some scientific ingredients, which are essential for advanced research, for e.g. cell lines, and do not allow the formation of spin off companies in the universities. Assessment and promotion rules are extremely unfair and do not support innovation, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research, which negatively affects the quality of produced research.

The system in Egypt depends solely on seniority and does not give a chance for young talented scientists to play major roles. Prof. Farouk El Baz, in his plenary lecture in Biovision (Bibliotheca Alexandria, 2014) was of the opinion, that Egypt’s future depends on young people, and while directing his words towards the youth, he said, “Only you are capable of shaping the future.”

Nevertheless, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Egypt is replete with bright minds and skillful scientists. There are increased funds for research, owing to the science and technology development fund (STDF). One of most important program run by STDF, is the establishment of centers for scientific excellence, with funds up to 10 million Egyptian pounds. “The ‘Centers of Scientific Excellence Initiative’, represents the conviction of Egypt, that science is the way forward”, said Prof Mahmoud Sakr, the executive director of STDF and newly appointed president of the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT).

Zewail City for Science and Technology

There are several agreements between Egypt and several international partners, for funding collaborative projects through the STDF and the ASRT, for e.g. EU, Germany, USA, France, Tunisia, South Africa etc. There is also great hope, that the Zewail City for Science and Technology (established by the Egyptian Noble laureate, Ahmed Zewail), will play a major role,to drive research and technology in the country forward. NGO’s in Egypt, like ‘Misr El kheir’, have recently begun to invest heavily in STI and created several programs supporting scientific research and entrepreneurship. The community in Egypt should encourage more NGO’s to follow this path.

In the end, the main problem for science and innovation in Egypt, is not the funding, but the system of STI and how it is operated. In my opinion, pouring more funds for research is important, but it will remain useless, unless we make a general reform for the STI system and rectify the laws that govern scientific research in Egypt. In addition, enabling young scientists should become the first priority, as young scientists represent the future of the country and house the required skills and expertise, to solve the county’s problems.

The Author is an Associate professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Head of center for scientific excellence “Helwan Structural Biology Research” (HSBR) and Co-chair of the Global Young Academy (GYA), Helwan University, Egypt.

References:

1. Farouk El baz – ‘Biovision plenary lecture’ in Youm7: http://www1.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=1600585#.U0t53F65MpE

2. Ahmed Zewail – ‘Science is future bridge’ in Al masary Elyoum (Arabic article): http://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/105345

3. Mahmoud Sakr – Youm7: http://www.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=957620#.U0t6-F65MpE

4. Global competitiveness report: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GlobalCompetitivenessReport_2013-14.pdf

Egypt’s revolution has presented a big opportunity to revive the country’s STI system and put research and innovation at the forefront of economic and technological development. Overturning three decades of neglect, will take time and commitment, and turning the tide will require substantial change at many levels – in schools, in the private sector, in universities and research centres, and in cultural and political attitudes.

Here, we summarise the main strengths and weaknesses of Egypt’s STI system, as uncovered by our analysis, and make some recommendations for change, that could help accelerate the country’s transition to a knowledge-based economy.

Strengths

Human capital

Egypt has a large pool of researchers and science students and technicians that harbour great talent, as well as a powerful and active diaspora.

Collaboration

Egypt plays a critical linking role in research in the Middle East and North Africa region. Egyptian researchers co-author on average, 10 papers a year with collaborators in UAE, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Jordan, Oman and Libya. Further afield, new collaborative initiatives have led to significant research partnerships with Germany, Italy, France and Japan.

Foreign investment

The UN Conference on Trade and Development’s World Investment Report 2010, ranked Egypt first among North African countries in its ability to attract foreign direct investment, and in the Middle East its FDI is greater than all except Saudi Arabia’s, Turkey’s and Qatar’s.

Information and communication technology (ICT)

The number of ICT companies in Egypt is increasing at a rate of around 13.5% per year, that has ended up attracting a host of foreign companies, including Microsoft, Ericsson, Vodafone, Intel and IBM. Spending in this sector is expected to increase from $1.4 billion in 2010 to $2.6 billion by 2014, making it one of the fastest growing IT economies in the world.

                                               Mathematics

This is another strength area on a global scale. Egypt exceeds the world average in citation impact for mathematics papers: an example of this is, that for the first time, a university in Egypt, Alexandria university, came 147th in the Times’ Higher Education World universities, owing to its quality of its research in mathematics and theoretical physics.

Natural resources

Being blessed with the natural resources of constant wind along the Red Sea, and its ideal geography that is harbouring it as a prime site for the production of solar energy, Egypt is a gold mine of natural resources.

Weaknesses

Lack of research funding

Lack of money for research, and the scant pay of researchers, has been a constant struggle for scientists across Egypt. The various competitive grant initiatives introduced in 2007 have helped, and recently, the government introduced several new proposals to increase funding and salaries. Raising the proportion of GDP spent on R&D from the current level of 0.4% to the 1% suggested by the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation, or the 2% suggested by the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, will be critical for the country’s economic development.

The education system is letting students down

Egypt’s rapid population growth has proved an enormous challenge for its education system. One of the commonest criticisms of school education is the standard of teaching, especially in the sciences. Students who study science are not taught to think like scientists – to question orthodoxy, to analyse critically. Instead, memorisation and rote learning dominate. All this could have serious implications for Egypt’s future, since the degree to which a country’s education system encourages critical thinking, in part, dictates its economic development.

Graduates need more business skills

One often-cited criticism of universities in Egypt is that they do not properly prepare their undergraduates for the jobs market. 41% of employers consider their young recruits poor at applying knowledge they acquired at school or university to the job in hand, according to a survey by the International Labour Organization. Another report found that education in entrepreneurship skills – such as understanding how ideas in the lab can translate into market opportunities – is among the worst anywhere.

Private enterprise has little faith in R&D as a business model

Out of Egypt’s total investment in R&D, just 5% comes from non-governmental sources. This is among the lowest contributions anywhere. A major reason appears to be a lack of trust and understanding between academia and industry, that makes it almost impossible for them to serve each other’s needs. Furthermore, too much university research is not geared to the needs of the community.

There is little public appetite for science

Public interest in science in general in Egypt, appears to be low. The proportion of pupils majoring in science subjects in secondary school, has more than halved over the last four decades. Furthermore, people do not generally see science as playing a pivotal role in development or in improving their livelihoods. This makes it harder for government to justify spending large amounts of public money on research.

The rigid academic culture holds back creativity and innovation

Egypt’s higher education regulations make it difficult for academics to move between universities. This ensures a deeply hierarchical system in which it is difficult for younger people to question their superiors, and in which promotion is determined largely by seniority rather than, say, success at obtaining patents. The deleterious effects of this and other aspects of the rigid academic culture are apparent in the lack of cross-fertilisation not only between universities, but also between different faculties at the same university. Furthermore, women are significantly underrepresented in the scientific community in Egypt, and especially in leadership positions, despite progress in recent years.

Conclusion

Lack of innovative thinking

Despite the great potential for innovation within Egypt’s scientific community, progress is still being held back by several deep-lying institutional issues. The most visible and perhaps the most disconcerting of these – as highlighted by events in recent weeks – is the poor quality of science journalism and the lack of appreciation for science among the public in general.

When Army researchers claimed in late February, that they had invented a device, that could detect and cure AIDS and hepatitis C through the transmission of electromagnetic waves, almost every journalist who reported the story, did so, without questioning the highly suspected science, behind it. This matters. The idea that science is a crucial driver of development, needs public support, and without a credible and scientifically savvy media, there is little hope of that message getting through.

The episode illustrates another deep-set problem: the lack of a culture of critical thinking and analysis, a problem that is highlighted several times in the Atlas report. There is no shortage of enlightened people within Egypt’s academic and educational establishment, who are trying to change such attitudes and steer the country towards a modern innovation-led economy. But they will never succeed without greater public support, and public support is unlikely to grow, without a scientifically literate media.

The writer is a Consultant for New Scientist, London and Lead Researcher for the report.

References:

‘Science and innovation in Egypt’-Atlas Report (full text) Available at http://www.aiwsi.org/imgs/news/image/atlas-country-case-egypt.pdf