The AUC conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Shaping the Future of Egypt kicks off today, at the AUC New Campus, jointly held by AUC's School of Business and School of Sciences and Engineering.

The conference is designed to bring together the AUC community, local stakeholders, students from other universities, and international scholars, to address how entrepreneurship and innovation can drive economic development and job creation in the region. It's a popular topic, that was also the theme of this year's special meeting of the World Economic Forum at the Dead Sea, but it's the topic of the hour, especially in Egypt, as primary players look to rebuild the country and set policies into motion for the coming era. 

The goal is to formulate a national strategy for supporting entrepreneurship and innovation in Egypt, including best practices when commercializing and socializing innovation, in support of sustainable development. The conference will also encourage mechanisms for fostering an entrepreneurial mindset and skill set in Egypt's youth, and generally seek to create and sustain an entrepreneurship community that produces success stories.

The 2012 AUC Research Conference will be co-chaired by Nagla Rizk, associate dean of graduate studies and research at the School of Business and Hassan Azzazy, professor of chemistry at the School of Sciences and Engineering.

Those who are interested can find more on AUC's website and register for free. The conference will continue until Thursday evening.