Recently tourism appears to be an effective economic tool to enhance gender equality and women's empowerment. This study analyzed the gendered-oriented articles concerning the tourism sector in the MENA region. This study focused on the articles that used structured methods such as interviews, questionnaires, surveys, and observations. 203 articles were extracted from the Scopus and Web of Science databases and analyzed through six bibliometric analysis units: scientific production evolution, documents, authors, sources, countries and institutions, and keywords. The main results of this study can be summarized in two pivotal points: (i) the scientific production of articles concerning gender in the tourism sector in the MENA region is still inadequate and does not correspond to the current international and regional interest in achieving gender equality; (ii) among all the MENA region countries, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and Oman were the most countries that have paid attention to gender in the the tourism articles.

Entrepreneurship is a significant economic process in regional economic development. This study aims to analyze the characteristics of the Egyptian entrepreneurial ecosystem by using the global entrepreneurship index (GEI) data from 2006–2017. This empirical study provides an in-depth insight into the Egyptian entrepreneurship ecosystem situation based on GEI methodology and its sub-indexes, pillars, and individual and institutional variables. Results revealed that the Egyptian entrepreneurial “Aspiration” pillars play a promising role in the Egyptian entrepreneurship ecosystem, especially the “Process Innovation” and “Risk Capital” pillars. Although the entrepreneurial “Abilities” pillars appear as shortcomings in the Egyptian GEI, especially the "Opportunity Startup" and "Competition" pillars. Furthermore, Egyptian entrepreneurial “Attitudes” pillars are considered to be the main disadvantage of forming the Egyptian GEI score. Finally, the paper proved that the “Risk Acceptance” and “Networking” pillars appeared as the weakest aspect of the Egyptian entrepreneurship ecosystem. Consequently, developing national policies and strategies to enhance these two pillars will improve the Egyptian GEI score by 2%.

Knowledge and innovation have become a significant source of modern regional development. The paper aims to study the spatial association of innovation and model innovation, besides critiquing regional innovation policy, using the regional knowledge production function approach. At the level of the Egyptian governorates, the number of patent applications has been used as a proxy for innovation. The study uses cross-sectional data for patents in 2018 with lagged time variables for knowledge input factors. The study contributes towards applying the knowledge production function at the level of the Egyptian governorates for the first time. Exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression are used, using the knowledge sources and localized characteristics. Our analysis found that research and development activities for academic institutions are associated with innovation outputs. In the context of the Egyptian regional innovation system, the contribution of private research activities is perceived to be negligible, and the innovation outputs are highly associated with the spatial association of the Egyptian governorates.

Entrepreneurial endeavors are essential for stimulating economic growth and rendering them is a primary concern for policymakers. In recent years, smart city ecosystems have garnered attention for enhancing urban living and tackling contemporary difficulties. The contribution of smart cities in promoting entrepreneurship and improving well-being has received little attention. This study aims at examining the potential of smart city as an ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship and enhance well-being and quality of life (QoL). This study uses a Fuzzy evaluation model and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to evaluate essential determinants of smart cities and their significance. Data from sources such as the Smart City Index, Ease of Doing Business Ranking, Global Innovation Index, Sustainable Development Report, and Technological Readiness Ranking are utilized with normalization, guaranteeing a dependable evaluation. The findings underscore the significance of open data efforts and transparent governance in recruiting innovative enterprises and promoting entrepreneurship. The study highlights the necessity of cooperative urban planning and public participation in decision-making. Moreover, the authors propose a new definition of smart cities from citizens’ well-being perspective. This research enhances the comprehension of smart cities’ influence on entrepreneurial endeavors, pinpointing problems and prospects for future investigations focused on improving well-being through smart city advancement.

This study evaluates the innovation capacity of Egypt’s governorates to identify their potential for developing smart cities as innovation hubs. Smart cities represent essential instruments for tackling complicated urban issues like environmental degradation, regional economic disparities, and rapid urbanization. In the framework of Egypt Vision 2030, the establishment of fourteen fourth-generation smart cities is seen as an essential initiative to promote balanced, innovation-driven regional development. However, the absence of a thorough assessment of regional innovation capabilities during the planning phase poses significant concerns regarding the viability of attaining these objectives. A quantitative approach is employed to address this research gap, utilizing a composite Regional Innovation Capacity Index (RICI) as well as conducting cluster analysis and spatial autocorrelation analysis to assess the 27 governorates’ innovation capacities. The findings show significant gaps in innovation capacity among regions, with notable variances in knowledge creation, knowledge utilization, and supportive infrastructure. The findings demonstrate that new smart cities have been developed in some governorates with limited innovation capacity, while high-capacity governorates remain underutilized. These disparities underscore the need for specific policy actions to strengthen innovation ecosystems in lagging regions. The study offers actionable insights on how to match regional innovation capacities with Egypt’s smart city development policy.