New digital platforms set up to modernise science sector

Algeria has unveiled a plan for setting up three new digital platforms, namely, a cloud computing, a drone-focused and a business incubator platform, as part of its efforts to promote research, entrepreneurship and job creation – and to accelerate sustainable development.

Professor Kamel Baddari, the minister of higher education and scientific research, announced the establishment of the platforms at the Centre for Research on Scientific and Technical Information in Algiers on 25 March, according to the ministry’s official Facebook page.

Baddari said: “These new achievements strengthen the information society and the digital economy while reinforcing Algeria’s digital sovereignty.

“The cloud computing platform will host national data and provide information services and data processing at a very high speed that can compete with the services and platforms of developed countries,” he said.

He also highlighted that the incubator platform plans to host 20 start-ups by the end of the year (2025), with the goal of hosting 100 new companies annually, starting in 2027.

The new e-platforms are part of the ministry’s digital master plan, known by its French abbreviation, SDN. It aims to digitalise and modernise the higher education and scientific research sector.

Under the SDN, digital platforms are established to enhance services for students, teaching staff and administrative personnel, as well as to streamline academic management, research collaboration and administrative services – through fostering improved communication and efficiency across universities and other higher education institutions in Algeria.

New e-platforms

The cloud computing platform is set to provide computing services, including advanced data storage and processing capabilities, through offering servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence on the internet (the cloud) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale.

The drone e-platform will focus on boosting research and industrial applications across several sectors, including agriculture and surveillance.

As for the incubator, it represents a key lever for technological entrepreneurship, offering Algerian startups the tools and resources needed to innovate and access both national and international markets. It will also help to create jobs for talented and creative university graduates as well as encourage areas of invention and innovation to achieve spatial development.

In 2023, Algeria’s unemployment rate stood at 12.7% overall, with youth unemployment reaching 30.8%, underscoring the urgency of the issue.

A boost for science

Professor Bouraoui Seyfallah from the University of Sciences and Technology in Houari Boumediene in Algeria, told University World News the digital platforms will help to cut expenses and enhance service quality.

Official figures show that the digitalisation process, which included adopting a zero paper policy in higher education, has led to savings of approximately DZD616 billion (Algerian dinar) (about US$4.6 billion) for the ministry in 2023.

“The digital platforms will also strengthen the universities’ role in boosting science, technology and innovation for sustainable development,” Seyfallah pointed out.

“While the cloud computing platform will offer advanced secured data hosting and high-speed processing services, the drone e-platform will help to improve Algeria’s technological capacity for building an indigenous, self-sufficient drone industry that contributes to wider development goals,” Seyfallah said.

“The digital business incubator will also help in making use of the innovative entrepreneurial ideas produced by universities and link them with developmental sectors, as well as promoting the growth of knowledge-based businesses, research spinoff companies and start-ups which, in turn, attract and support university graduates,” he added.

“The digital business incubator will support distinguished researchers and graduates of higher education and scientific research institutions technically, administratively, and financially to translate the results of their research, scientific studies and inventions into economically feasible activities,” he noted.

The 2023 SDG Digital Acceleration Agenda, a global analysis of the connection between digital technologies and sustainable development, demonstrated how digital solutions, including digital platforms, can directly benefit 119 of the 169 SDG targets (about 70%), including in areas such as education.

Internet and innovation capabilities

Out of an Algerian population of about 47.1 million, 36.2 million people or 76.9% of the total population have access to the internet, according to information on the website Datareportal.

In addition, Algeria is ranked 141 out of 154 countries when it comes to average internet speed. The country is ranked 47 out of 188 countries with reference to the cost of the internet, but is ranked ninth for cheap internet in Africa.

Algeria also ranks 115th among the 133 economies featured in the Global Innovation Index (GII 2024 ), which lists world economies according to their innovation capabilities.

While Algeria’s main innovation strengths are university-industry research and development collaboration (47) and human capital and research (76), its main innovation weaknesses are creative outputs (109), public research-industry co-publications (115), creative goods and services (124), knowledge and technology outputs (125) and high-tech exports (131).