- The challenge is held in cooperation with the Technology Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC)
- 185+ submissions, from 18 governorates to help find digital solutions for industrial challenges in Egypt in healthcare, transportation and energy
- Awards up to EGP 300,000, in addition to training the winners Predix, GE’s platform for industry
GE (NYSE: GE) today held the Award Ceremony for the GE Egypt Digital Innovation Challenge, which was attended by His Excellency Engineer Yasser El Kady, Minister of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). The Challenge was held under the patronage of the Ministry of MCIT and was done in partnership with the Technology Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC), an affiliate of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA).
The 2016-17 GE Egypt Digital Innovation Challenge featured 188 submissions from young entrepreneurs, university students and software developers, coming from 18 different governorates across the country, who submitted their digital solutions for Egypt’s challenges in energy, healthcare and transportation sectors. The judging panel included nine judges from GE in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the US, from the GE Digital, GE Renewables, GE Energy Connections, GE Healthcare, and GE Transportation businesses, in addition to two judges from TIEC. Each winner will be granted an EGP 100,000* cash prize, in addition to receiving a four-week online training to further develop their digital solution on Predix, GE’s platform for industry that enables the secure collection and analysis of data in real time. Additionally, the three winners will be granted a free Predix license for one year.
“We are proud of the role that young minds can play towards the country’s digital transformation and see the importance of partnering with global companies to drive knowledge transfer and to enable youth with capabilities that help them excel,” said H.E. Eng. Yasser El Kady, Minister of Communications and Information Technology in Egypt. His Excellency explained the Ministry’s efforts to drive innovation and build the right ecosystem for entrepreneurship in Egypt, and highlighted that Egypt aims to become globally competitive in the fields of innovation and scientific research, hence we need to leverage similar initiatives done through entities like TIEC to prepare youth for that at an early age.
Ms. Asmaa Hosny, CEO of ITIDA, added: “ITIDA has several initiatives to enable local talent with technologies that will help them serve Egypt, the region and the world. Training Egyptian youth on Predix, GE’s platform for industry, will help innovators realize their potential to find solutions to industrial challenges while leveraging the Internet of Things.”
Additionally, Ayman Khattab, President & CEO, GE North East Africa, said, “We are proud to be a partner to TIEC on this initiative and are thankful for the support received from MCIT to make this a success. We look forward to working more with them to help drive Egypt’s digital transformation. Egypt has the talent and capabilities to be a global hub for software development, and it is our role to enable youth with the right resources to help them solve Egypt’s industrial challenges today, and in the future.”
Below are the winning ideas in the GE Egypt Digital Innovation Challenge:
Energy:
- The challenge was to develop a digital solution that will help stabilize the electric grid, as various power sources including gas, wind, solar and coal, go online and offline.
- The solution is a software that detects the voltage and current of each of the three phases of the distribution network in the Egyptian grid and connects it to a control box that monitors and analyzes data. This enables the injection of single phase photovoltaic (PV) sources, and switching between the phases seamlessly per their current load, hence decreasing unbalance of the grid and improving its satiability and reliability.
- The winner is Ibrahim El Sayed Ibrahim, a 26-year-old Masters of Science and Engineering student who works as an electric engineer in the field of power generation.
Healthcare:
- The challenge was to develop a digital solution to help track a hospital’s installed base of equipment, and improve process, operations and flow.
- The solution is an application that connects Bluetooth enabled sensors placed on equipment with Bluetooth enabled mobile devices to help monitor the condition and location of medical equipment. The system also supports Bluetooth fixed beacons to locate medical staff and personnel within a medical environment, hence improving the efficiency at any medical institution and better managing its assets.
- The winners are Hany Fathy Hamad and Talal Osama ElShabrawy, who are both Telecommunications Engineering professors at the German University in Cairo
Transportation:
- The challenge was to develop a digital solution to remotely monitor the rail fleet, and record information about operations, maintenance cycles and scheduling.
- The solution is a control system, that leverages IoT technology, by collecting data from sensors placed on locomotives and trolleys, and then transmits it to a control center that will help drivers remotely analyze and monitor the fleet. This ultimately helps detect issues before they occur, and helps manage fleet scheduling, hence improving the efficiency of rail transportation which will help decrease carbon emissions, road traffic and accidents on the road.
- The winning team is Egyptian Smart Transport Cargo (ESTC), which includes Yasser Ashoosh, Amr Abdeen, Haytham Tag, and Mohamed Gaffer, who are students at the Faculty of Engineering, studying Mechatronics at the University of Banha, located in Banha, and Dr. Nader Mansour, Mechatronics Professor at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Banha.
GE’s approach to open innovation is helping address customer and country needs more efficiently and effectively. By sourcing and supporting innovative ideas wherever they might come from, we can apply GE’s scale and expertise to solve some of the world’s toughest challenges.
-ends-
* Terms & conditions apply. The cash prize is subject to the Egyptian tax law and its regulations.