Sustainable AASTMT

Brief Description 

The Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport (AASTMT) supports the principles of entrepreneurial education and enhancing competitiveness and sustainability not only within the Egyptian economy but also across the broader Arab region.
AASTMT established its Entrepreneurship Center “AASTEC” in 2015, with the objective of empowering youth to drive the realization of sustainable economic growth in the region. The Center aims to be the regional hub that empowers youth and supports startups and businesses throughout the Arab region and Africa.

The “Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Industry Support Policy” serves to reinforce creativity and innovation as one of AASTMT’s top priorities. The policy also targets the expansion of long-distance education programs and professional training for AASTMT students and entrepreneurs, mobilizing research outputs and linking them to market challenges across economic and industrial sectors. It encourages the design of innovative solutions that support national industries and enhance competitiveness.

AASTMT’s sector-focused incubators aim to create a base of innovators, developers, and entrepreneurs capable of designing competitive prototypes and applications that support industry localization and replace imports.
In addition, recent national and regional initiatives such as the RIPPLE Program, the RIPPLE Summit, and the AASTEC Investors’ Network have strengthened AASTMT’s role in building university-based entrepreneurship ecosystems, enhancing investment readiness, and linking academia with industry, investors, and regional innovation networks.

Scope 

AASTMT, through its “Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Industry Support Policy,” seeks to empower its various entities to invest in students, professors, and researchers by linking academic outcomes to market needs, with the aim of creating quality jobs that contribute to sustainable economic development in Egypt and the Arab region.

This policy applies to all academic and non-academic staff within the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport, including all faculties, divisions, and departments.
The geographical coverage of this policy extends across all AASTMT campuses in Egypt and the Arab region and includes the implementation of ecosystem-building initiatives such as RIPPLE, the RIPPLE Summit, and partnerships established through the AASTEC Investors’ Network, ensuring consistency and alignment across all locations.

Aims of the Policy 

The policy aims to achieve sustainability of the academic and practical excellence of the Arab Academy by supporting creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurial education, while ensuring the best use of academic research and AASTMT’s physical and human resources to address industry needs and challenges.

It seeks to spread entrepreneurship culture not only among AASTMT students and staff but also among entrepreneurs and local and Arab communities, enhancing competitiveness, employability, and job creation within the Egyptian and Arab economies.

In addition to past efforts, the policy now emphasizes:

• Strengthening the institutional capacity of university-based entrepreneurship centers through the RIPPLE Program and its national training components.
• Promoting regional collaboration and knowledge-sharing through the RIPPLE Summit, positioning AASTMT as a regional convener for entrepreneurship and innovation.
• Enhancing investment readiness and access to finance for startups and enablers through the AASTEC Investors’ Network, which connects founders and ESOs with venture capital, angel investors, and funding institutions across the region.

Introduction

AASTMT established its Entrepreneurship Center in 2015, with the objective of empowering youth to drive the realization of sustainable economic growth in the region. The Center works to be the regional hub that empowers youth and supports startups and businesses throughout the Arab region and Africa, with the aim to build a generation of youth entrepreneurs and change agents to positively impact the social and economic conditions of Arab economies by enabling environment for growth, which stimulates innovative initiatives and private business functioning through utilizing the resources of the Arab Academy and its extended network.

AAST Entrepreneur Center “AAST EC” prepared a clear strategy for supporting Egyptian, and Arab startups, entrepreneurs, and university students, through its different programs, that serve not only the AAST Community: undergraduate, postgraduate, and Alumni, but also, the youth, entrepreneurs, and startups in Egypt and the region. 

The strategy aims at building & connecting a healthy ecosystem for entrepreneurship in the Arab, and African regions and the Egyptian governorates and local communities with the promising youth to help establish a robust region and Egypt’s development. Also, the policy developed aimed to support the efforts of the Arab Academy towards transforming into an entrepreneurial university, for that reason AAST established a specialized academy to support startups namely “AAST Startups School”.

AAST EC launched its sector-focused incubators at AAST EC, considered the first of its kind in the region that aims at building and connecting entrepreneurial ecosystems in the leading economic sectors, specifically the supply chain and logistic incubator, Mashreq tourism incubator, and MASAR Agribusiness incubator and recently the incubator for people with disability (Good Will Incubator), in addition to a national entrepreneurship competition named (Egypt Rally competition).

A recent program was launched namely “Rally Accelerate” which focused on operating startups, it’s a fully advanced program that focuses on registered startups who are eager to develop and grow their startups, reaching scalability and international expansion where the winners have awarded international visit to European and German ecosystems to better gain the required knowledge, in addition to the opportunity to pitch and showcase of their startups in front of many investors, VCs, business leaders in international summits.

Specialized programs directed to students and fresh graduates (AAST Youth incubator and AAST’s Grade to Business program also meet the founder’s initiative), all these programs aim at better engagement of students with AASTMT staff and management to boost innovation and entrepreneurial culture and supporting students to develop their own projects in the market. 

Engagement of AASTMT staff from different faculties, departments, and campuses is also crucial for efficient connection with the students to mentor and coach their innovative ideas and link to the industry needs.

In 2023, the Center expanded its ecosystem-building agenda through the launch of the RIPPLE Program, a national initiative focused on strengthening the capacity of university-based entrepreneurship centers across Egypt and developing Entrepreneurship Support Organizations (ESOs). The program has reached more than 35 universities, providing training in governance, sustainability, investment readiness, and ecosystem development.

Building on this momentum, the RIPPLE Summit 2025, hosted at the League of Arab States, established AASTMT as a regional convenor of entrepreneurship and innovation. The summit brought together over 400 participants, 60 speakers, and representatives from 20+ countries, producing a regional collaboration roadmap and shared ESO development standards.

During the Summit, AASTEC facilitated an Investors’ Roundtable, which led to the launch of the AASTEC Investors’ Network; a platform comprising 40+ venture capital firms and investors from 13 countries. The Network connects ESOs and startups with investors, supports investment readiness, and strengthens engagement models between academia, startup founders, and the private sector.

Policy Statement

The Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Industry Support Policy supports the efforts of the Arab Academy toward transforming into an entrepreneurial university and becoming the regional hub that empowers youth and promotes startup and business development across Egypt and the Arab region. The policy ensures sustainability of academic and practical excellence through supporting creativity, innovation, and continuous development, in cooperation with international, regional, and local partners.
Transfer of know-how, provision of scientific and technical support, and collaboration with leading universities and industrial partners are essential elements for maintaining excellence and implementing global best practices.

The Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Industry Support Policy promotes innovation and industry linkages through:

• Providing enhanced framework conditions and knowledge to support industry and academia in developing and accelerating innovative ideas — Stimulating Innovation
• Developing mechanisms that enable industry and academia to transform innovative ideas into viable products, services, processes, and business models — Enabling Innovation
• Supporting the development and scaling of innovations through mentorship, ESOs, investor engagement, and applied research — Facilitating Innovation
• Commercializing innovations by bringing new products and technologies to market, integrating them into national and global value chains — Commercializing Innovation

Objectives

• Achieving sustainability of the academic and practical excellence of the Arab Academy, through the support of creativity and innovation. 
• Mobilize the outputs of scientific research, linking it to the challenges that exist in various sectors, and recommend innovative solutions that support different industries.
• A main objective is to operate as a center for technology transfer and enterprise creation, integrating with the innovation labs and industry-based innovation in the enterprise life cycle, and solve the challenge of missing the know-how and bridging the gap to the local industry.
• Spread the entrepreneurship culture, not only for AASTians but also for entrepreneurs and Arab and local communities supporting entrepreneurial education and enhancing competitiveness and sustainability.
• Strengthen the capacity of university-based entrepreneurship centers nationally and regionally through programs such as RIPPLE, positioning them as sustainable enablers capable of supporting startup growth and ecosystem development.
• Enhance investment readiness and industry linkages for startups through platforms such as Rally Accelerate and the AASTEC Investors’ Network, ensuring better access to capital, mentorship, and market opportunities.

Implementation and Desired Outcomes 

In general terms, the Entrepreneurship, innovation, and industry support policy, aims at scaling its programs nationally, regionally, and internationally with the objective to support the enablers of the entrepreneurship ecosystem, on one side, and on the other side to create more opportunities for startups and potential entrepreneurs, with clear linkage of industry support, AAST EC policy is to do that through supporting entrepreneurship enablers in addition to providing direct support to startups. 

Specific actions to be taken in both the medium and long term, first: the medium-term actions and related outcomes: 

• Direct or indirect support of 500 startups within the coming 3 years in Egypt, MENA region & Africa, through our incubation programs, Rally competition, and other platforms. 
• Inspiring and changing the culture of 5,000 potential entrepreneurs through our startup school different online entrepreneurship programs. 
• Having a unicorn among our portfolio of supported startups within 5 years. 
• Helping our supported network of startups create 3,000 job opportunities for youth within 3 years. 
• Support entrepreneurs in less developed and underserved areas in the country through customized programs targeting them. 
• Support people with disabilities and innovative ideas that provide solutions for people with disabilities, through the “GoodWill incubator”.
• Rally Accelerate focuses on the registered startups who are eager to develop and grow their startups, reaching scalability and international expansion, where the winners are awarded international visits to European and German and other countries and ecosystems; and have the opportunity to pitch and showcase their startups in front of many investors, VCs, business leaders in international summits.
• Support innovation in the tourism sector in the Arab region, through the Ruler Tourism Entrepreneurship Digital Program for Arab States (RTED Arabs) “an integrated initiative that supports creating Eco-Systems in the Arab region for the entrepreneurs and innovators in the tourism sector and ruler toursim, an expected outreach is 2,000 beneficiaries from all five pilot countries (Egypt-Saudi-Bahrain-Sudan, Comoros).
• Expand the impact of RIPPLE by enabling ESOs and entrepreneurship centers, enhancing their long-term sustainability and program quality.
• AASTMT also have an important pillar in its activities and programs , which is Students’  Societies, which operate across multiple campuses and partner universities. These student-led societies play a central role in building an active entrepreneurial culture, organizing innovation challenges, bootcamps, and community events. Their activities enhance student engagement, expand outreach for AASTMT programs such as Rally Egypt and Rally Arab, and help identify promising student innovators. The performance of these societies is assessed through their membership growth, number of activities delivered, and contribution to student-driven startups and initiatives.
• Engage more investors and venture capitalists through the AASTEC Investors’ Network, providing startups and ESOs with direct access to capital, mentorship, and business-matching opportunities.

Second: the Long-term Actions and Outcomes: 

Fostering entrepreneurial thinking across university communities, empowering young founders, and supporting them through AASTMT’s platforms such as the Egypt Rally, Rally Arab, RIPPLE Program, and sector-focused incubators.

Contribute to national economic development through incubators addressing strategic sectors—tourism, agribusiness, supply chain, logistics, and digital transformation—that have a direct impact on economic growth and competitiveness.

Strengthen the role of AASTMT as a regional leader in entrepreneurship policy, innovation development, and ecosystem building across Arab and African regions.

Promote integrated collaboration between academia, industry, and investors to ensure that university-based innovation contributes directly to national value chains and industrial modernization.

Ensure the long-term sustainability of entrepreneurship support organizations (ESOs) across Egypt and the region through continuous capacity building, partnership expansion, and international collaboration.

Performance Indicators

Key performance indicators include:

• Jobs created through supported startups.
• Employment growth rates among incubated enterprises.
• Number of spin-offs and university-based startups established.
• Investment attracted, including funding mobilized through the AASTEC Investors’ Network.
• Profit growth of incubated and accelerated startups.
• Number of sectors and enterprises served, including tourism, agribusiness, supply chain, logistics, digital transformation, and inclusive entrepreneurship.
• Number of ESOs supported through the RIPPLE Program and international meetups.
• Startups achieving scalability or international exposure, especially through Rally Accelerate and regional programs.

Internal Monitoring and Auditing 

Monitoring is undertaken according to the logical framework, and the technical, and financial reports produced under the above-mentioned outputs, as well as the frequency of project management meetings.