On Sunday, January 18th 2026, the Access to Knowledge for Development Center (A2K4D) at the American University in Cairo’s Onsi Sawiris School of Business and its flagship initiative MENA Observatory on Responsible AI, organized the Responsible AI (RAI) Cup Competition under the patronage of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT).
The main goal of the competition is for businesses to showcase how they are embedding Responsible AI principles in different phases, from development to deployment.

The RAI Cup competition is the first competition in Egypt for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and startups building or using artificial intelligence (AI) in their tech products and solutions. It was initially launched in October 2025 to encourage SMEs to incorporate responsible AI in their operations and foster responsible AI themes and practices. Submissions were open for all MENA SMEs and startups and the competition brought together submissions from 41 companies. Businesses had to show their commitment to implementing responsible AI across nine pillars: privacy, accountability, safety, transparency, fairness, human oversight, professional responsibility and human values. The submissions were then evaluated and the top five participants were selected to showcase their pitches on Sunday, January 18th.

Opening the event, Dr. Samer Attallah, Associate Professor of Economics and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies at AUC, highlighted the pivotal role universities play in promoting ethical, responsible, and sustainable AI. He praised A2K4D for being a leading research hub and an active regional voice in global AI conversations. He emphasized that this work is not limited to academia alone, but is strengthened through close collaboration with the private sector. He stressed that universities have a transformative responsibility in fostering sustainable and inclusive AI, and that educators play a critical role in driving innovation and raising awareness in the AI era.

Dr. Nagla Rizk introduced the MENA AI Observatory as an interdisciplinary research hub dedicated to inclusive AI, with a strong gender and development lens. She stated that the Observatory’s mission is clear: to ensure that voices from the region meaningfully contribute to global AI debates. She outlined the Observatory’s diverse research portfolio and that it is guided by three goals: AI for policy, AI for people, and AI for practice.

From a public policy perspective, Dr. Hoda Baraka, Advisor to Egypt's Minister of ICT for Technology Talent Development and a Professor of Computer Engineering at Cairo University, highlighted the growing momentum of AI in Egypt and praised A2K4D as one of the leading MENA voices shaping this discourse. She reiterated the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology’s (MCIT) openness to partnerships, particularly with SMEs, and emphasized that the startups celebrated at the RAI Cup exemplify how RAI principles can be translated into practical, real-world solutions.

Dr. Baraka reflected on the launch of Egypt’s National AI Strategy, noting that building a strong ecosystem is one of its key pillars and KPIs. Central to this effort is capacity building and developing skilled youth capable of contributing to Responsible AI locally and globally. She mentioned that regulation must safeguard society without stifling innovation, and the Ministry is preparing to launch an AI Audit Lab to allow SMEs to experiment safely with AI tools.

Nagham El-Houssamy, Associate Director of Research at A2K4D, presented the RAI Cup as a first-of-its-kind initiative in Egypt and the MENA region. She stated that the Cup reflects the Observatory’s commitment to moving Responsible AI from dialogue to implementation.

Despite efforts to expand regional outreach, most of the 41 applications, spanning seven sectors, came from Egypt, highlighting both the country’s innovation potential and the opportunity for broader regional engagement.

The heart of the event lay in the startup pitches, each demonstrating a distinct, context-sensitive approach to Responsible AI, and evaluated by a panel of expert judges including Dr. Hoda Baraka, Advisor to the Minister of Communications and Information Technology and Professor of Computer Engineering at Cairo University; Ms. Lamiaa El Rashidy, Senior Incubation Department Manager at the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center; and Dr. Nezar Sami, Skills Development Analyst with the Regional Programme for Arab States (RBAS), Regional Programme Division, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Cloudilic addressed a critical question which is how can AI agents operate autonomously in real-world systems without creating new risks? Through Dragify, an AI agent operating system, they tackle the dangers of ungoverned AI by embedding role-based authority, guardrails, traceability, and human oversight. Their sector-agnostic solution spans healthcare, finance, logistics, and insurance, with future plans for bias monitoring, task-level risk scoring, regulatory certifications, and carbon-conscious model design.

In healthcare, Rology showcased a Responsible-by-Design model, serving more than 350 hospitals across 12 countries, with a strong focus on underserved and rural populations, Rology combines AI with strict human-in-the-loop workflows. Their vast, anonymized medical imaging data lake enables innovation while preserving patient trust, and every diagnosis remains validated by a licensed radiologist.

Zaher AI brought an Arabic-first perspective to Responsible AI in the digital visibility space. By tackling the black-box problem with explainability, tying AI metrics to real business outcomes, and respecting linguistic and cultural nuance, Zaher demonstrated how ethics can be a strategy for resilience and trust. Their RAI journey emphasized human agency, transparency, sustainability, and cultural relevance as core design principles.

Finally, AgriCan, based in Mansoura, illustrated how RAI can directly support environmental sustainability and food security. Using AI-powered robots to precisely detect plant diseases and optimize pesticide use, AgriCan reduces spraying by 30–80%, cutting costs and environmental harm. Their system prioritizes farmer data ownership, human oversight by agricultural engineers, and built-in accountability mechanisms that recognize and respond to AI limitations in the field all while creating new local jobs.

Overall, the competition showed a true entrepreneurial landscape in different practical AI implementations across different sectors and industries. It echoed the need for partnerships and collaborations between academia, the private sector and the government all while maintaining strong regulatory frameworks to ensure the implementation of ethical and responsible AI.