Dr Ahmed Darwish received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Cairo University, in 1981 and 1984 respectively, and received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the University of California, Davis in 1988.

Dr Darwish received the Egyptian National Engineering Award for the year 1999 and was selected in Singapore to receive the Middle East Eminent Persons Award in 2007. He also received the Lifetime Achievement Medal for his distinguished career service from the University of California, Davis in 2017.

Dr Darwish served in two notable public positions; first as the Minister of State for Administration Development (2004-2011) and as Chairman of the Suez Canal (SC) Economic Zone (2015-2017). As the Minister, he had was responsible for three portfolios; 1) e-Government, 2) Institutional and Human Resources Development, and 3) Governance (supporting transparency and integrity in government and the public sector). The work done by his team was internationally recognized with Egypt’s government electronic and web services ranking 23 out of 192 countries according to the 2010 UN-PAN report. This program received the best service award, both from the United Nations (New York, 2009) and the African Union (Johannesburg, 2008). During the tenure of Dr Darwish as Minister, Egypt was accepted as a member of the Public Governance Committee in the OECD. As Chairman of the SC Zone, he laid the foundation of one of the largest Special Economic Zones in the world, covering 461 sq. km and 6 ports.

Dr Darwish serves as a consultant to several international organizations (UNDP, UNIDO, UNESCO, FAO, ESCWA, European Union, and World Bank), government organizations, and companies in Egypt, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the United States.