Business and Technology Incubator (BTI) in Community Service and Continuing Education Deanship (CSCED) at Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) received a high-level delegation from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which included: Ms. Marie Noguchi – Head of Tokyo’s Headquarters for Middle East and Europe, and Ms. Eri Nakamura – Senior Deputy Director in Tokyo’s Headquarters for Middle East and Europe, Mr. Hoshi Mitsutaka – Deputy General Representative of JICA Palestine Office, and Mr. Saher Younes – Director of Programs at JICA Palestine Office.
The delegation was received by Dr. Alaaeddin Al-Jamasi – Dean of CSCED, Dr. Iyad Al-Agha – Dean of IT Faculty, and the staff of BTI. The visit came with the aim of reviewing the role of BTI in shaping the ecosystem map in the Gaza Strip in entrepreneurship and information technology sectors.
Dr. Al-Jamasi stressed the role of the Islamic University with its faculties and cadres in guiding the youth and university students to develop their technical skills in line with the needs of the global market in the sectors of information technology and startup companies.
Dr. Al-Jamasi thanked the representatives of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for their visit and their continuous support for the Palestinian youth and people, and praised their role in advancing the Palestinian economy by finding employment opportunities for them through digital channels and empowering them economically.
Dr. Al-Agha pointed to the importance of periodically developing curricula in the faculties of information technology in Palestinian universities in line with the needs of the global market. He hinted to the role of projects targeting graduates in developing the skills of graduates of information technology faculties in the Gaza Strip, and its impact on refining their skills and enhancing their opportunities in obtaining job opportunities through freelancing platforms or through long-term contracts with local or global operators.
During the visit, Engineer Esraa Mousa, GoDigital Project Manager, presented the incubator’s activities, its most important programs, projects, partnerships, and achievements, in order to serve the youth and graduates in the Gaza Strip whether by developing their technical skills and qualifying them for the labor market, or by supporting their entrepreneurial projects to become startups able to compete and expand regionally and globally, or by the qualitative “Curricula Automation” newly launched at BTI as part of the GoDigital project funded by the Japanese government, targeting graduates of education faculties.
During the presentation, Eng. Mousa demonstrated the projects that were implemented with the support of the Japanese government, the most important outputs and achievements within these projects, the role of the Japanese government and the Japanese people in empowering graduates and developing their skills by supporting the entrepreneurship and private sectors in Gaza in the meantime, and the hoped-for future role of JIKA in shaping a map of the technological environment in Gaza.
The meeting included a discussion on describing and identifying the most important challenges in the information technology and entrepreneurship environment in the Gaza Strip, where Ms. Malak Zaqout – Projects Coordinator at BTI, presents a collection of success stories from the beneficiaries of BTI, highlighting the impact these projects had on their lives.
