The Ministry of Communication Technologies and Digital Transformation will soon launch a new program “Tech 4 Tunisia” which will make it possible to federate and materilise innovative projects in various sectors, announced minister, Mohamed Fadhel Kraiem.
“This new initiative will be a lever and an implementation arm of several innovative projects in many sectors,” the minister said.
In an interview with TAP, Fadhel explained that the idea for the project was born during this period during which a real momentum was created in terms of identifying innovative technological solutions for the health sector to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This initiative has been launched and it would be a shame to stop it, especially as we have already started the branding phase which consists of managing the product’s image”, he said, adding that priority is given to the health sector, i.e. “Tech 4 health”.
New sectors will follow afterwards (Tech 4 agriculture, Tech 4 transport, for example), he stressed, adding that the objective is to capitalize on what has just been done in the health sector, to structure and perpetuate this experience over time.
The Minister of ICT indicates that his department has received, to date, more than 200 Technological Initiatives for crisis management and the fight against COVID-19.
“These are proposals, ideas and software … from ministries, large companies operating in Tunisia or abroad, SMEs and startups,” he said.
“A portal on the ministry’s website is tasked with collecting requests,” Kraiem said, adding that his department has created a joint commission composed of representatives of the public, private and civil society sectors and a representative of donors, to guide these initiatives.
The commission will examine all requests to identify those that are in line with the needs of the Ministry of Health through their submission to the same department (Health) which will validate their use.
Referring to the project of the Integrated National Network of Administration “RNIA” launched at the end of 2018, he recalled that it is in phase 3 “RNIA 3″.
The RNIA project aims to establish a unified infrastructure that links the headquarters of ministries and their annexes, regional directorates, public institutions, governorates, as well as municipalities and their districts to sectoral centers of information technology.
RNIA 3 targets the municipalities, i.e. 600 connections,” the minister said, adding that the project was finalized on time with a shortening of the deadline to 14 months, instead of 18 months.
The next phase concerns the RNIA 4 project, which aims to ensure the connection between establishments under the Ministry of Justice, Kraiem announced, recalling that the publication of the specifications was planned last year. “Our department will ensure the implementation of this project, especially since there is no budget problem,” the minister stressed.
Returning to the “Edunet 10” project, which will connect schools (around 6, 500 establishments) to the very high-speed network, he pointed out that 10% of them do not have an internet connection and 80% do not have a broadband connection.
For the Minister, this programme, which will make it possible to interconnect all schools, particularly primary and secondary schools, to the very broadband Internet network, is a major project that will require work lasting two years.
“We are preparing the fundamentals to enable the Ministry of Education to develop the integration of digital in its educational programme,” he said, adding that his department is preparing the consultation which should start this year in order to complete the project on time”.
Asked about the national electronic mail management system called “Elissa”, he recalled that 6 pilot sites (6 ministries) have been launched.
The decision to generalize the system to all ministries has already been taken, the minister said, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed its implementation (scheduled for the end of April).
He announced, in this context, that by the end of May the platform will be generalized on all administrations.
Referring to the performance of the sector, the minister recalled that 20 thousand jobs have been created during the period from 2016 to 2019, within the framework of the “Smart Tunisia” project, against 50 thousand jobs planned.
“It is the sector that has created the most jobs over the last year.
TunisianMonitorOnline
