Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) are widely recognized for being the major components towards the establishment and consolidation of a knowledge-based society. Many of Egypt’s Research and Development (R&D) and Innovation institutions are relatively young. Furthermore, the Egyptian Research and Innovation system is quite complex and needs further development. Less than 0,2% of GDP is being devoted to funding research. The Government of Egypt has identified the challenges facing Science, Technology and Innovation and has recently initiated various efforts in order to develop this prominent sector. In September 2006, the Egyptian President announced that Science and Technology will be in the heart of Egypt’s developmental plans, thus announcing the start of the Decade of Science and Technology (2007-2016). In line with the Decade for Science and Technology, in February 2007 two presidential decrees were passed, the first establishing a Science and Technology Council aiming to develop the country’s strategic plan for scientific research, setting the vision and the priorities for S&T, and ensuring the implementation of such plans. The second presidential decree gave force to the establishment of a Science and Technology Development Fund. The Fund aiming to support the Egyptian S&T capabilities will operate by distributing research funds on competitive basis. In addition, the EU and Egypt signed in June 2007 the Research Development and Innovation (RDI) agreement with a grant of €11 million for supporting research, development and innovation initiatives in Egypt. The overall objectives of the RDI programme, to be implemented over four years, are: 1. Increasing participation of Egyptian researchers and laboratories in European R&D programmes and, more specifically, to RTD Framework Programmes. 2. Increasing participation in the Marie Curie actions on Mobility of researchers. 3. Fostering innovation culture within Egyptian companies as well as linkages between business and academia. A key component of the Programme is to establish an Innovation Fund aiming to support research outputs, exploitation and innovation with closer links to national or European industries. The Fund will support projects on a competitive basis for applied research, with an emphasis on innovation. The EU-Egypt Innovation Fund will provide grants to cooperative projects that aim at enhancing the innovative capabilities of industrial companies and notably the privately owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).