Egypt's digital export workforce has grown to approximately 200,000 specialists, according to Minister of Communications and Information Technology Raafat Hindi. He made this announcement during the opening of the ninth DevOpsDays Cairo 2026 conference. The event's theme, "Sustainable DevOps Methodologies in the Era of Agentic AI," aligns with the current transition in global software development toward autonomous artificial intelligence systems.
Minister Hindi emphasized that the competence of Egyptian developers is a major sector strength and a catalyst for multinational companies expanding their local operations. He also raised questions regarding the maintenance of human oversight, accountability, energy and computing resource consumption, and cybersecurity compliance as AI increasingly participates in writing code, testing, and autonomous decision-making.
To demonstrate local technological advancement, Hindi highlighted the recent launch of "Karnak," the first Egyptian large language model (LLM) developed by local engineers. This model is capable of understanding classical and colloquial Egyptian Arabic. He emphasized the role of DevOps engineers in transitioning such digital models from technical achievements into sustainable, reliable services.
Ahmed El-Zaher, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), discussed the rapid evolution of Agentic AI. He stated that this shift is transforming software systems from assistive tools into entities capable of autonomous task execution and planning. This requires updated work methodologies, governance frameworks, and continuous investment in specialized skills.
The ninth edition of the DevOpsDays Cairo conference features 66 speakers, including 13 international experts from nine countries. The event is organized by ITIDA's Software Engineering Competence Center (SECC) at the Creativa Innovation Hub in Giza. Cairo hosted the first regional edition in 2018 and remains the only Arab city to host the DevOpsDays series, which operates in over 60 cities worldwide.
The conference agenda comprises four main tracks addressing DevOps in the Agentic AI era: cost and environmental sustainability, human sustainability and governance, security and reliability, and tools and infrastructure. The program also includes three panel discussions on governance, corporate culture, and organizational aspects, alongside three specialized workshops.
The event will conclude with the announcement of the winning teams in a competition focused on employing DevOps and AI to accelerate automation and innovation. Out of 142 applicant teams, 20 reached the final stage, split equally between 10 student teams and 10 professional graduate teams. The finalists were evaluated by a 12-member panel comprising six Egyptian and six international judges.
Key points
- Approximately 200,000 specialists are working in exporting digital services from Egypt to global markets.
- The ninth DevOpsDays Cairo conference features 66 speakers, including 13 international experts from nine countries.
- The event includes a competition focused on employing DevOps and AI to accelerate automation and innovation.
