Egypt’s cabinet gave the green light to establish the Zewail City of Science and Technology by a unanimous vote in May. Approval for the $2 billion City, which will be comprised of a university, graduate research and industrial institutions, and a technology park on 100 hectares of land in the Cairo suburb of Sheikh Zayed, came as part of the government’s goal to revamp science and preceded a 30% boost to science funding earlier this month. The City will initially have 1,000 students, and that number could grow to as many as 5,000. The cabinet will submit more details to parliament for approval after the elections this fall. Nobel Laureate Ahmed Zewail is spearheading the project, originally proposed in 1999 and restored in part by the country’s pro-democracy rebellion in January.

Source: SciDev.net