Under the auspices of Prof. Dr. Omar Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, President of Ain Shams University and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center at Ain Shams University (iHub), Prof. Abdel Fattah Saud, Vice President for Education and Student Affairs, and Prof. Dr. Ayman Saleh, Vice President for Graduate Studies and Research Affairs, and Prof. Hisham Tamraz, Vice President for Community Service and Environmental Development Affairs, and under the supervision of the National Academy of Information Technology for Persons with Disabilities and in cooperation with the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Ain Shams University, the activities of the Hackathon for small and medium-sized companies, organized by the National Academy of Information Technology for Persons with Disabilities, ended today. Under the auspices of the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and in cooperation with the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Ain Shams University, as part of the activities of the qualifying program to incubate and support the entrepreneurship sector and research and development for assistive technologies to support and empower people with disabilities.

The activities of the SME Hackathon were launched on the twelfth of July, with the participation of a group of companies, developers and those interested in developing assistive technology from all over Egypt and from various existing companies, working for 7 consecutive intensive days to discuss and discuss topics related to the field of integration and Empowering people with disabilities and adapting information and communication technology.

This is in line with the vision of the Ministry of Communications in supporting and empowering people with disabilities to integrate them into society in order to achieve the vision and strategy of the state 2030.

The Academy also seeks to empower people with special needs, develop their skills, and exploit their exceptional abilities in achieving economic and social development in Egypt. The Academy's vision is to become a regional center for supporting and stimulating assistive technology.

The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Ain Shams University iHub is the official center for capacity building and entrepreneurship, which has been working to reduce the gap between academic study and industry, since 2013, and the center offers a variety of unconventional multidisciplinary programs that are designed so that graduates become highly qualified and ready to join the labor market.

During the closing ceremony of the SME Hackathon, all the ideas proposed by the various representatives of SMEs were discussed by the jury consisting of:

M. Mahmoud Metwally: CEO of First Soft.

Dr. Amr Al-Awamry: Senior advisor for assistive technologies at the National Academy of Information Technology for Persons with Disabilities - and a faculty member at the Faculty of Engineering in Benha, Communications Department.

M. Hatem Al-Shamaa: Vice President of Benya Cables & Organizer of lean startup circle Egypt

Dr. Mohamed El-Sheikh: Assistant Professor, Department of Electronics Engineering - Ain Shams University

Dr. Maged Ghanima: A faculty member in the Mechatronics Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University

Dr. Alia Ahmed: - Lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Tanta University, Training Academy for Physicians from Cairo University, founder of the first national campaign to introduce and raise awareness for people with Down syndrome, clinical nutrition specialist at 57357 Hospital, member of the Board of Trustees of Al-Falak Charitable Foundation, sponsor of Global Shippers Delta - World Economic Forum

During the closing day, the ideas were presented and discussed, and two winning teams were selected for the first places, with 100 thousand for the first-place winning company and 50 thousand Egyptian pounds for the second-place winning company, in order to support the presented ideas and adapt them in the field of assistive technologies for people with special needs.