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Techne Summit, the international investment and entrepreneurship event, took place in Alexandria on 29-30 September for the 4^th consecutive year. This year’s Summit brought together the key players in the tech industry at Bibliotheca Alexandria. The event attracted more than 6,000 attendees, 130 speakers, 80 investors, 230 startups and more than 66 partners - all from 25 different countries.

The two-day event acted as a space for exchanging expertise in parallel with sharing opportunities and experiences to ensure youth empowerment and build bridges between entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Seven Main Tracks

Techne Summit 2018 featured 7 tracks that attendees could choose to attend based on their interests. Each track included expert talks and panel discussions where speakers, panelists and moderators excelled at shedding light on valuable perceptions and key industry trends.

Aside from the panel discussions, the Artificial Intelligence track included a dedicated AI Workshop for startups by Menatallah Abdel Azeem. The Healthtech track discussed matters related to ‘The Application of AI, AR and VR in Patient Treatment’, ‘The Future of HealthCare’, ‘Data Collection for Improving Patient Diagnosis’, and a lot more.  The eCommerce track had topics ranging from addressing consumer needs in emerging markets up to how can artificial intelligence predict your next purchase.

Stages were packed in the Marketing and Media Technology track as prominent influencers and media gurus took the floor discussing several hot media trends.

“As sales and marketing continue to transition further and further into the digital with the advent of ecommerce and the decline of brick and mortar sales outlets, brands will continue to look towards the tech field for viable potential investments that can help them better augment their sales and marketing efforts”, said Tarek Nasr - Managing Director of The Planet.

‘State of Fintech In The Region’ by Rita Makhoul, and ‘Fintech for Financial Inclusion’ by Chris Czerwonka were some of the keynotes of the Fintech track. Additionally, Jessica Berlin with Andrew Sekandi moderated the Early Stage FinTech Investments panel.

The Real Estate track shed the light on the future of smart buildings, smart cities, and 3D printed houses. The Investment track aimed to promote direct investment in MENA startups by bringing together several key players through capacity building expert talks and panel discussions. Participants gained valuable insights into investment strategies, hands-on growth tactics, and access to up-to-date economic trends and resources.

To further empower women, Techne, with the support of USAID’s project for Strengthening Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (SEED), put together women mentoring sessions and a panel discussion titled “Empowering Women by Empowered Women Entrepreneurs”.

The Summit featured 7 parallel stages in the Techne Area that were reserved for talks, panel discussions, startup workshops, office-hours run by IdeaSpace, and startup pitching competitions.

The 5 competitions that took place on stage were TIEC, Fintech competition by Mint by EgBank, Healthtech competition by AXA, Trip to Stockholm, competition by the Swedish Embassy and Institute, and GIZ and Techne competition.

Vetwork and Aquatika, Noqood and Ordera, Grow and Instadiet, Chefaa and Makanak Car Care, and Epic VR and Social Buildingz were the respective winners of the above mentioned competitions.

Techne Summit 2018 included 3 pitching events for startups:

   - AMIDEAST Egypt and Citi Foundation partnered to host their pitch event for the Youth Entrepreneurship Program; a two-year partnership aimed at providing economic opportunities impacting 40 youth in Egypt.

   - Uber teamed up again with Techne Summit to bring entrepreneurs and investors to the Alexandrian Corniche in a #Uber7antoor.

   - Alex Angels - Alexandria’s network of angel investors - held their Q3 pitch event during Techne Summit. Four startups pitched in front of the angel investor members of the group and a wide selection of regional and global investors.