4 <strong>European</strong> <strong>Ideas</strong> <strong>Network</strong>
<strong>European</strong> <strong>Ideas</strong> <strong>Network</strong> Vade-mecum <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> speakers Hazem ABDELAZIM, Member, National Society for Change Pr<strong>of</strong>essional Track Born in 1960, Dr Abdelazim graduated in Systems Engineering from Cairo University in 1982, with highest honors. He completed his MSc in Applied Ma<strong>the</strong>matics in 1985, and <strong>the</strong>n attained his PhD in Applied Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence in 1989 both also from Cairo University. In 2003, Dr Abdelazim completed his MBA from <strong>the</strong> Maastricht School <strong>of</strong> Management in The Ne<strong>the</strong>rlands with distinction. Dr Abdelazim’s pr<strong>of</strong>essional experience is a blend <strong>of</strong> Industry and Academia. He is currently an Associate Pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> Information Technology at <strong>the</strong> Faculty <strong>of</strong> Computer and Information Science, Cairo University.Within <strong>the</strong> world <strong>of</strong> academia, he has become renowned for his teaching and research in <strong>the</strong> fields <strong>of</strong> pattern recognition, artificial intelligence, Arabic NLP, and applications <strong>of</strong> S<strong>of</strong>t Computing in Financial Trading <strong>of</strong> Securities. He also holds a Pr<strong>of</strong>essional Certificate for Technical Analysis <strong>of</strong> Stock Markets. 1982 -1986, Dr Abdelazim held <strong>the</strong> position <strong>of</strong> Teaching Assistant at <strong>the</strong> Department <strong>of</strong> Systems & Biomedical Engineering at Cairo University. 1986 – 1993 As an Assistant Scientist, and <strong>the</strong>n Associate Scientist, for <strong>the</strong> IBM Research Center 1993 – 2000 : Executive Director <strong>of</strong> Sakhr S<strong>of</strong>tware , one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> largest regional S<strong>of</strong>tware development firms . 2001 – 2007 : Entrepreneur and c<strong>of</strong>ounder <strong>of</strong> IMAGiNET S<strong>of</strong>tware (now CIT MOBiDIV), one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> World’s Top Players in Arabic Technologies on Windows Mobile Devices. 2007 – 2010 : Appointed as <strong>the</strong> CEO <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) after serving as <strong>the</strong> Minister’ senior advisor for <strong>the</strong> Technology Development Sector since May 2007. Dec . 2010 – May 2011 : Director <strong>of</strong> Research , Micros<strong>of</strong>t Corp. May 2011 – Sep 2011 : CEO <strong>of</strong> technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (tiec), ministry <strong>of</strong> Communication and Information Technology. Dr Abdelazim has been recognized for his achievements by being awarded He was awarded an ‘Invention Achievement Award’ from IBM in 1991 , <strong>the</strong> First Scientific Innovation Prize for Arab Scientists (1993), President’s [Egypt] Excellence and encouragement Award (1992 and 1995), and Student <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Year Award and Director’s Cup (2003) from <strong>the</strong> Maastricht School <strong>of</strong> Management. Political Track Abdelazim was one among many Egyptians following up <strong>the</strong> political scene during <strong>the</strong> period 2005-2010. The Parliament elections <strong>of</strong> 2005 was a milestone for many passive and silent Egyptians as it unleashed a considerable amount <strong>of</strong> forgery , corruption and brutal force. In addition a disgraceful institutional effort geared towards preparing <strong>the</strong> ground for <strong>the</strong> inheritor “gamal son” to take over. A rising feel <strong>of</strong> unfairness , injustice and negative sentiment started to prevail and incrementally was capturing <strong>the</strong> hearts and minds <strong>of</strong> many Egyptians. The political playground was totally manipulated by <strong>the</strong> State Security Authority (SSA), so <strong>the</strong>re was no any room for practicing any health political activity. On Jan-feb 2010, in such a gloomy , rotten and fully SSA manipulated political Scene , <strong>the</strong>re was light shed at <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> dark tunnel, a noble prize and internationally renowned public figure Dr. El Baradei , returned to Egypt , with a great reform enthusiasm. In <strong>the</strong> absence <strong>of</strong> any ethical role model, Dr. El Baradei Stood out very clearly , as a real Symbol <strong>of</strong> change . He formed The national society for change (NSC) and collected near a million proxy for supporters <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Seven legitimate Demands aiming at a real political reform. Dr. Abdelazim at that time was following up closely <strong>the</strong> political vibrance caused by Dr. El Baradei and decided to join <strong>the</strong> National Society for change , in a step that many <strong>of</strong> his close friends considered this move as a suicide. Being a government head and <strong>of</strong>ficially joining not only any SSA manipulated opposition party but joining a figure that was extremely hated and threatening <strong>the</strong> Mubarak’s umpire . He started El Baradei e-support group with Wael Ghoneim and o<strong>the</strong>rs to mobilize <strong>the</strong> and drive <strong>the</strong> efforts for change. Dr. Abdelazim was seriously threatened from SSA that explicitly threatened his family , so he had to decline during march –Oct 2010. While maintaining his e-activism heavily on Social media Like many millions Abdelazim participated in Jan25 revolution , and continued his mission as a political activist driving for real change . He was appointed as a Minister for ICT in July 2011 , and was dismissed quickly before <strong>the</strong> formal oath through a heavy media campain by a fake story <strong>of</strong> his relationship with Israel. A standard practice against many activists in Egypt nowadays . The actual reason was that <strong>the</strong> X-Regime is still in control under a SCAF (Supreme Council for Armed Forces) umbrella, also Dr. Abdelazim was forced to resign from his government job as a deputy minister in Sep 2011 , due to a freedom <strong>of</strong> expression oppression due to his open criticism <strong>of</strong> SCAF Ruling and policies. 5
Change language