Arab Science and Technology Foundation

Arab Technology Business Plan Competition 2009 Semi-Finalists

October 8, 2009October 8, 2009 MMM 1 Comment

The Arab Technology Business Plan Competition, which is a regional Technology investment competition organized by Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF) in cooperation with Intel Corporation, has just announced the list of semi-finalists for this year’s edition of the competition.

The list of 12 semi-finalists includes, in no particular order:

AqarMap (Yemen): An online real estate marketplace.
Telephone line powered lamp (Palestine): A solution to the frequent power outages in Gaza.
EDOM (Jordan): A system to produce green energy.
m-CASH (Palestine): A mobile payments solution.
Human Heater (Jordan): A new innovative heating product.
Therapeutic Vaccines (UAE): Vaccines to help treat chronic inflammation and cancer.
NovelMed (Egypt): New medical device.
Eye Controlled Typing (Palestine): Technology to help people with physical disabilities use computers.
Collapse Analysis (Egypt): Software applications to analyse building structures.
Wiphone (Egypt): Technology to convert earth frequency into wifi frequency and vice versa.
Blue Soft/Blue Phone (Egypt): Solution to minimize train accidents.
HFF (Egypt): Technology to extract hydrogen from water and use it to generate green energy.

The competition provides the Arab entrepreneurs with a number of needed tools and skills through training and mentoring, in order to turn their Technological innovation into business opportunities.

The top 3 winners will get cash prizes of $10k, $6k and $4k respectively; and will have the opportunity to show their business plans in front of venture capitals, angel fund and investors in the ASTF Investment in Technology Forum.

The top 2 winners will also get to represent the Arab World in the world wide finals of the Intel + UC Berkeley Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge (USA).

Bedaya Angel Network’s First Pitching Session For Startups

August 9, 2009August 9, 2009 MMM

A group of 10 Angel investors gathered in Jordan to attend the first match-making event for the newly created Bedaya Angel Network, where 20 pre-selected entrepreneurs got to pitch their projects to the investors.

Entrepreneurs were given 20 minutes to present their project and explain why they were looking for investment. Presentations were followed by another 20 minutes with questions from the attending Business Angels about their project’s details and concept, business development, the market for their project and what any eventually invested money would be used for.

The Bedaya Angel Network initiative was launched only a few months ago, in May of 2009, and has attracted over 30 important figures from the Jordanian investment, business and economic development communities.

The founding institutions of the Bedaya Angel Network are: the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship, the iPark business incubator and the Arab Science and Technology Foundation. It is supported by the European program Medibtikar.

The goal behind the creation of Bedaya is to offer national financing vehicles for innovative business startups as part of the El Hassan Science City’s mandate to foster knowledge-based enterprises with a promising potential for growth. The network will be offering investments for early stage start-ups with a focus on science and technology.

Bedaya Angel Network - Match-making Event

The process starts with the selection of entrepreneurs who are looking for funding and giving the ones that are most ready the opportunity to pitch their projects to an audience of business angels at match-making events that should be held every 2 months.

Before pitching to investors, the entrepreneurs received special full-day training and coaching by Mr. Nelson Grey, a seasonal expert on business angel investments.

The next Bedaya pitching session is planned to happen next October.

[Business Angels are private individuals willing to invest their own money into high growth potential startups; not only offering money to the companies they invest in, but also a lot of experience and their personal business networks.]

Investing In Technology Forum, Cairo, Egypt – May 12-14th 2009

April 3, 2009April 3, 2009 MMM

The Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF), a Pan-Arab NGO with the mission of promoting and supporting Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship as a tool of economic development in the MENA region, has announced its 6th Investing in Technology Forum to be held this year in Cairo, Egypt on May 12th -14th, 2009 under the Patronage of H.E. Dr. Ahmed Nazif, Prime Minister of Egypt.

Organized in cooperation with ITIDA and Nile University, the forum is a networking opportunity for entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, regional corporate CEOs, and all technology leaders in the region who will get together to share experiences, develop relationships and explore business opportunities.

The Forum falls into ASTF efforts to bridge the gap between those who generate technology and those who generates businesses and investments, with the ultimate aim of creating strong, innovative and competitive knowledge-based businesses that can add value, generate jobs and create wealth.

The Forum is targeted at an audience of investment and business professionals; multinational corporations; leading regional corporations in technology innovation; venture capital funds, private equity funds, and investment banks; angel investors and business angel groups; technology leaders in the Arab region; incubators and technology parks; universities and research centers; NGOs and Gov. organizations; as well as technology startups and SMEs.