Executive Summary The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is working to support an Egyptian ICT sector that plays an active role in facilitating the achievement of political, social and economic goals during the current stage of democratic transition in Egypt. MCIT, therefore, aims to build on Egyptians’ positive view of ICT tools and systems, adapting and developing them to serve the requirements of a democratic society. This will include the development of applications that support digital citizenship, opening avenues for community participation in social issues, and protecting freedoms and social justice Vision: Towards digital citizenship, and an advanced knowledge-based economy and a smooth transition to democracy Mission: To develop a democratic knowledge-based society that supports a strong Egyptian economy and is based on equitable access to information and communications services, guaranteeing the digital rights of citizens and the development of a national industry based on human talent and creativity To achieve this mission, four strategic objectives have been identified: Supporting the democratic transition Promoting digital citizenship and information society Promoting sustainable development 6 7 Strengthening the national economy The National ICT Strategy for 2012-2017 focuses on a number of quantitative targets related to important indicators. With regard to supporting the democratic transition and promoting the information community and digital citizenship, the aims are to raise the number of high-speed internet subscribers in Egypt to 13 million by 2015, to have personal computers in at least 40% of Egyptian households within five years, and to establish a national network of 1,000 Technology Homes. On the development front, targets include providing all schools and educational institutions with high-speed internet access; promoting the use of electronic signature applications in three government agencies; raising the volume of e-commerce by 20%; increasing the proportion of e- banking customers using online or mobile banking to 30%; and improving Egypt’s ranking in the field of Arabic digital content by increasing the number of trusted websites by 8-10 %. With regard to strengthening the economy, the targets are: to maintain ICT sector growth rates of 7-10% over the next five years, while increasing the sector’s contribution to national income to 5%; to raise revenues generated from outsourcing services to $2.5 billion and from intellectual property to $1 billion; to expand the volume of investment in the ICT sector by 20% to LE 55 billion; and to boost exports of software and embedded software within two years to $500 million. Another important factor is employment, with plans to increase the number of professionals working in outsourcing to 75,000, in IT to 30,000, and in innovation and entrepreneurship to 10,000. The strategy also includes the expansion of the national network of technology parks to 20, and the growth of Egypt Post as a primary savings facility by a yearly average of about 15%.