Egypt’s ITAC round 41 takes product-development proposals from ICT companies until 29 October 2026

Egypt’s ITAC round 41 takes product-development proposals from ICT companies until 29 October 2026

1 September 2026 — Egypt's Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) opened round 41 of its Information Technology Academia Collaboration programme, ITAC, on 1 September 2026. The round closes on Thursday 29 October 2026. ITAC funds collaborative research and development projects between Egyptian ICT companies and researchers, and this round accepts one kind of project: product development.

What is open, and what is not

ITAC funds two categories of project. Product Development Projects (PDPs) turn a proof of concept or prototype into a market-ready product. Preliminary Research Projects (PRPs) turn an idea into a proof of concept. For round 41, ITIDA's page gives the PDP submission deadline as 29 October 2026 and says PRP applications "are temporarily unavailable", with a note to check back for when they reopen.

Who can apply

According to the programme page:

• Industrial partner: an Egyptian ICT company registered in ITIDA's database.
• Principal investigator: where the project is collaborative, the investigator and research team come from Egyptian universities or research institutes, and the investigator must hold a PhD and have a publication or patent in the proposal's topic.
• Companies alone: a company whose own research team can fill the role of a research institute may apply.
• One proposal per company: each industrial partner may submit one proposal per round.

A PDP must be finished within a year and a half. The resulting product should meet the specifications of a commercial product and be ready to bring to market by the end of the project.

How much

ITIDA describes PDP funding as a partial reimbursement of costs, and its page states the ceiling in two places. One passage says PDPs are funded "up to EGP 5,000,000". Another, in the table of project types, gives "up to EGP 3,000,000" for PDPs, and separately up to EGP 5,000,000 for electronics products ready for mass production under the Egypt Makes Electronics programme. Applicants should confirm with ITAC (itac@itida.gov.eg) which ceiling applies to their project before building the budget.

What to do

• Egyptian software and ICT companies with a working prototype have until 29 October 2026 to submit a PDP proposal.
• Check the company's registration in ITIDA's database first; it is a condition of applying.
• Decide early whether to apply alone or with a university partner, since the investigator must hold a PhD with work in the topic.
• Use ITIDA's published applicant's guide, proposal template, budget template and financial guidelines, all linked from the programme page.
• Teams at the idea stage should watch for PRP applications reopening.

Sources

• ITIDA (Information Technology Industry Development Agency): ITAC Collaborative Funded Projects, CFP Round 41 (read 30 September 2026) — 30 September 2026
• ITIDA home page notice: CFP round #41 is now open for submission starting September 1st and will be closed by October 29th (read 30 September 2026) — 30 September 2026