The role of endowments and VCs in scientific research: Ahmed Sedky at the Tech Transfer 3.0 Summit
Ahmed Sedky, Managing Partner of Significa Capital, joined a panel at the 2024 Deep Tech MEA & Tech Transfer 3.0 Summit on the role of endowments and VCs in developing and supporting scientific research in the region.
Ahmed Sedky, Managing Partner of Significa Capital (then Significa Ventures), spoke on a panel at the 2024 Deep Tech MEA & Tech Transfer 3.0 Summit: The Role of Endowment and VCs in Developing and Supporting Scientific Research in the Region. The 25-minute recording was published on the Deep Tech MEA YouTube channel on 5 November 2024.
The session was moderated by Dr. Ghanim Khashwan, Senior Manager, Applied Research, Higher Colleges of Technology. Panelists included:
- Dr. Eesa Bastaki, President, University of Dubai;
- Dr. Abdelmajid BenAmara, Head, Federation of Arab Scientific Research Councils;
- Ahmed Sedky, Managing Partner, Significa Ventures;
- Dr. Hany Ayad, Executive Director, Innovators Support Fund.
The session covers:
- what role VCs and philanthropic endowments can play in sustaining long-term R&D;
- how funding bridges academic research and market needs;
- which policies and ecosystem enablers Tech Transfer 3.0 needs;
- case studies and frameworks for national R&D endowments.
Significa Capital now manages the Dubai TechX Fund with the University of Dubai.
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Twenty-two years across telecom engineering, enterprise B2B, corporate innovation and venture capital. Sixteen years at Vodafone Egypt, from radio network engineering and R&D and innovation program management, where he led the university and startup partnership program, to Head of Digital Business Solutions at Vodafone Business, running a P&L above EGP 2 billion across cloud, IoT, cybersecurity, big data and AI and launching the V-Hub digital marketplace for SMEs. Co-founded Significa in 2021 and leads its corporate venture and innovation practice. Venture Finance, Oxford Saïd Business School; MBA, Edinburgh Business School; BSc Telecommunications Engineering, Cairo University.