Egypt partnership targets African biotech academy

[CAIRO, SciDev.Net] An international university in Egypt has partnered with a leading pharmaceutical company to strengthen education, research and innovation in biotechnology across Egypt, the Middle East and Africa—a move that experts say could help bridge the long-standing gap between academia and industry.

The partnership between the American University in Cairo (AUC) and Minapharm Pharmaceuticals, which gets underway early this year, will contribute to establishing what the university describes as the first African academy for biotechnology.

Under the agreement, the two partners will exchange expertise through joint workshops, collaborative research projects, conferences and lectures delivered by specialists from both academia and industry.

“The partnership is designed to address a persistent gap between academic training and the practical competencies required by the biotechnology industry,” said Andreas Kakarougkas, director of the graduate programme in biotechnology at AUC.

“Specifically, it focuses on strengthening hands-on skills in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, quality control and assurance, regulatory compliance, and translational research.”

In its initial phase, training opportunities will be limited to postgraduate students in biotechnology, with the possibility of expanding later to include other disciplines such as engineering and business administration.

Key issues related to the academy’s organisational structure, funding mechanisms and implementation timeline are still being discussed, according to Kakarougkas, who is also an assistant professor of cell and molecular biology at AUC.

He told SciDev.Net that the university will take responsibility for academic supervision and curriculum development, ensuring that programmes meet international academic standards and are fully integrated within higher education frameworks.

Minapharm will co-develop course content, deliver specialised training, and host trainees at its industrial facilities, “providing students with exposure to industrial settings that cannot be replicated within a traditional university laboratory,” Kakarougkas said.

He says many graduates have a strong theoretical background, but their practical experience with industrial-scale production processes is limited.

The programme aims to produce graduates who are “industry-ready from day one”, he added.

Weak links

Weak links between universities and industry remain a major obstacle to translating academic research into market-ready innovations in Egypt, according to Hala El-Hadidi, professor of economics at the British University in Egypt, which is not involved in the partnership.

El-Hadidi pointed to the results of a survey of more than 200 companies across several industrial zones in Cairo, which found that only six per cent reported having links with academic institutions.

She attributes this gap to several factors, including universities’ traditional focus on teaching and academic research, with limited institutional commitment to commercialising research outputs. In contrast, industry often views university research as overly theoretical and poorly aligned with immediate practical needs.

To make partnerships like this successful, El-Hadidi argues that government intervention is essential to support cooperation between universities and industry.

“Establishing steering councils at the university, regional, and national levels to guide, support, and monitor partnership programs,” could help this process, she added.

Shaheer Bardissi, co-CEO and executive board member at Minapharm, said the partnership would further the development of education and research in biotechnology.

“Together, we aim to advance the biotechnology industry in emerging markets through a wealth of intellectual and technical resources,” he said.

According to Kakarougkas, one of the first results of the collaboration will be the introduction of a new entrepreneurship course in biotechnology for students enrolled in the Master of Biotechnology and Master of Business Administration programmes, starting early this year.

If successful, the initiative could offer a model for other African countries seeking to align higher education with the needs of fast-growing biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Middle East and North Africa desk and edited for brevity and clarity.