MEIS-SME – Mobilizing Egyptian Innovation System for SME Innovation Capabilities

The three-year project "Mobilizing Egyptian Innovation System for SME Innovation Capabilities (MEIS-SME)" has been successfully completed. The project, which was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, aimed to identify the innovation patterns of Egyptian SMEs, analyse their innovation barriers and challenges and enable targeted support programs by systematizing the existing innovation support landscape.

The MEIS-SME project was carried out from November 1, 2020 to October 30, 2023 in cooperation with various partners, including MCI | The Entrepreneurial School^®, Freie Universität Berlin, Nile University Cairo and the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research & Technology. MCI, represented by Prof. Dr. Oliver Som and Lucas Huter, both from the Department of Business & Management, played a leading role in the first work package of the project.

In this work package, a comprehensive data set with company data on 3,800 Egyptian SMEs was analyzed. A statistical cluster analysis was used to identify six different innovation patterns in the Egyptian SME landscape. Egyptian SMEs belonging to the same innovation pattern are similar in their innovation behavior, underlying resource endowment and respective challenges, while SMEs belonging to different innovation patterns differ in exactly these aspects. The results of the project will provide policy makers with a solid basis for designing targeted innovation support programs for the Egyptian economy in the future.

The final conference of the MEIS-SME project took place in Cairo last year and was attended by a large number of key players. Among the guests were members of the Egyptian government, the Egyptian Central Bank, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and rectors of Egyptian universities.

The results presented were extremely well received by the conference participants. In a subsequent roundtable format, the findings were discussed constructively with the conference participants in order to discuss ways to strengthen the innovative capacity of Egyptian SMEs.

The MEIS-SME project marks an important step in the analysis and promotion of innovation in the Egyptian economic system. It provides a basis for future developments and measures to strengthen the innovation potential of SMEs in Egypt. A continuation of the project is planned for 2025.