The door for applying to the digital Arabic content (DAC) competition is now open until 31 March 2014. Within the framework of cooperation between ESCWA and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in Egypt represented by the Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (TIEC), the digital Arabic content (DAC) competition in Egypt was launched on 2 March 2014, as part of a workshop to raise awareness on the importance of the DAC industry. The workshop was attended by representatives from government agencies, companies involved in DAC development, as well as a large number of start-ups, young entrepreneurs and university graduates. Hania Dimassi, Research Assistant in the ESCWA Information Communication and Technology Division (ICTD), delivered a presentation on the conditions, selection criteria, and timeline of the competition, whereas the manager of the TIEC incubators department Lamia Al Rachidy, overviewed the incubation award and services to be provided to the winners.
It is worthy to note that the competition targets university graduates and young entrepreneurs with innovative DAC ideas whether products, e-services or mobile applications. The workshop included a presentation on the importance, opportunities and challenges of the DAC industry delivered by Chief of the ICT Applications section at ESCWA Nibal Idlebi, in which she noted that ESCWA is a pioneer in this domain, and highlighted the most prominent results of ESCWA's study entitled "Status of the digital Arabic content industry in the Arab region". The application form is available online at the following URL: http://www.tiec.gov.eg/en-us/DAC/Pages/default1.aspx#h For further information on ESCWA’s DAC initiative, please visit the following URL: http://isper.escwa.un.org/FocusAreas/DigitalArabicContent/tabid/260/language/en-US/Default.aspx
