At the recent World Economic Forum Meeting in Jordan this May, we caught up with Charbel Fakhoury, VP of Sales, Marketing, and Services at Microsoft. 

There are no easy answers to what makes a functional entrepreneurship ecosystem, but strong research & development centers have certainly helped attract talent and produce innovation in Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, London, Singapore, and other cities known for their entrepreneurial culture around the world. 

Building upon its network of research centers around the world, Microsoft launched Advanced Technology Labs Cairo in 2006, to incubate startups and perform resarch in language and content services. We asked Fakhoury what impact the center has had to date, and whether its model could be scaled further throughout the region.

"I don't think we can open a research center in every country," he admits. But Microsoft is looking to scale its model by partnering with local universities. Watch the video to see what he has to say about Microsoft's vision when it comes to helping startups.