Egypt draws inspiration from Cyprus in hi-tech research

EGYPT is drawing inspiration from Cyprus as it seeks to tap into scientific and technological research.

The Mail recently caught up in Nicosia with Fadi Muhammad al-Sayyid, Executive Director of E-CAT, the Egyptian City of Advanced Technology. Al-Sayyid was dispatched by the Egyptian government to the island to learn from the experiences of the Cyprus Institute, a Nicosia-based science and technology institution.

“Our goal is to study and learn from the Cyprus Institute, which has earned international reputation for excellence in a relatively short period of time,” he said.

He told the Mail that Egypt’s President Husni Mubarak has expressed a keen personal interest in E-CAT – a scientific research centre that will be located outside Cairo

The Cyprus Institute, established last year, is engaged in several research projects, often in collaboration with world-renowned scientists.

Egypt’s Education Minister is on the Cyprus Institute’s board of trustees.

“We want to know how they did it, and take these lessons home” al-Sayyid said.

Egypt has similar ideas, and in fact E-CAT is the brainchild of an Egyptian Nobel laureate.

The neighbouring country is particularly interested in research relating to water, energy, the environment, and of course archaeology, where for example scientific data would be digitised using cutting-edge computer software.

“We want to start yesterday,” said al-Sayyid. Realistically speaking, E-CAT should be up and running in a couple of years, he added.

Al-Sayyid, a former ambassador, said that once completed, E-CAT would seek to draw the “best minds” from around the world.

“And we would certainly be interested in joint research with the Cyprus Institute,” he said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.