Cairo, Egypt Mini Trip Report

Hello Everyone,

Your heart has to go out to Egypt as it goes through the birth pains of a new nation. Dr. Kamal Zaki Mahmoud Shaeer, Chairman of The Millennium Project Cairo Node organized a great series of meetings and talks that has culminated in the request to create a collective intelligence system for Egypt with public access and participation. One of the Members of the Cairo Node has named it ISIS (Integrated Synergistic Information System). It was universally acknowledged that Egypt needs an online public system that can help organize all the thoughts on the future of the revolution, priorities for the country, strategies, etc.

The Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, which sponsored my trip, would like to enter into a long-term agreement with The Millennium Project to create ISIS and continue with its future development to make it effective as a national platform to improve the national coherence and future planning and decisionmaking (Attached photo Acad of S&T – the director is to my right, and Kamal is to my left). ISIS is planned to be a 100% free public system. The director of the Academy, Kamal, and I met with the Minister of Education along with representatives from the cabinet and other ministries to share the concept of ISIS (attached two photos of Min of Education); the meeting went well and ISIS was accepted.

The visit began with an address to the Coptic conference on “The Future of Social Justice in Egypt,” that brought together a range of national thought leaders, politicians, Christians, Moslems, and the Moslem Brotherhood. There was a suggestion that we re-name GFIS to be the Global Futures Integrated System, as the term intelligence can be misunderstood. There is also interest in MP’s helping to develop several university futures courses, and possibly executive training sessions. I also addressed the annual meeting of the Arab Egyptian Future Studies Association – the host of the Egyptian Node – about relation of futures research and strategy at the University of Cairo.

Yes, I went to Tahrir Square twice and it was perfectly safe (attached photo Martyr’s murals), although there are many mini “Berlin Walls”(Attached photo of wall) and barbed wire barricades on the streets making Tahrir Square less accessible.
All the best,
Jerry

MPlogo MPlogo MPlogo
Academy of S&T – the director is to
my right, and Kamal is to my left Meeting with Minister of Education Minister of Education

MPlogo MPlogo
Wall blocking access to Tahrir Square Martyr’s murals in Tahrir Square