AD University spotlights importance of innovation

Abu Dhabi University (ADU) awarded four winning teams at the sixth edition of the annual Idea Factor Innovation competition, held at the university’s main campus in Abu Dhabi. The annual contest, which targets high school students across the UAE, aims to foster an entrepreneurial mindset amongst youth with a view to create a positive and lasting impact on individuals and businesses in the UAE.

The innovation competition was organised by ADU’s Innovation Center and College of Business in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council. This year’s edition of the contest received 115 submissions across the four categories, which included Smart City and Innovation Technology, Business Sustainability, Health and Wellbeing as well as Social Innovation. Out of 115 teams participating from 35 schools across the UAE, the university awarded the first place winning team from GEMS Cambridge International School – Abu Dhabi for their enterprise ideas ‘Quench’ in the Health and Wellbeing category. The Social Innovation and Business Sustainability categories recognised two teams from the Secondary Technical School’s (STS) for their winning ideas Masterstation’ and ‘E-rise’ respectively. Finally, the university recognised the winning team from Applied Technology High School- Abu Dhabi for their ‘Smart Multifunctional Water Tank’ idea in the Smart City and Innovation Technology category.

Dr Sherine Farouk, Assistant Provost of Academic Projects at ADU commented, “Innovation is a key catalyst to building a sustainable and diversified economy, and this remains a driving force that inspires ADU’s efforts towards fostering innovative thinking and empowering the younger generations to be tomorrow’s leaders and change-makers. The Idea Factor Innovation competition builds creative confidence and entrepreneurial mindset in school students, by providing them the platform to collaborate, learn and hone creative thinking.”

The competition’s categories were carefully designed to represent the focal areas of research and innovation in the UAE that responds to its changing needs and global job markets and addresses market skills gaps.

Dr Petra Turkama, Director of Innovation commented, “We believe that innovation works best when it addresses a challenge. As such, this year’s competition focused on practical solutions and social enterprise ideas that tackle daily challenges and build essential skills that help students in their career journey. The submissions that we saw this year demonstrated the depth and breadth of local entrepreneurial potentials that can blossom into future entrepreneurs. We congratulate the winning teams and thank all participating students for presenting their outstanding work.”

Teams of students representing their schools demonstrated their ideas to a panel of judges during a series of 15-minute presentations at the university’s Abu Dhabi and Dubai campuses. The judging panel comprised Dr Huda Al Matroushi Board Member of Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council, Fatima Ishaq Al Awadi and Najla Ahmad Al Mutwa, board members of the Emirates Businesswomen Council. The panel also included faculty members from ADU including Jolly Jacob, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Viola Gjylbegaj, Assistant Professor of Mass Communication, Anand Dwivedi, Instructor of Study Skills and Dr Petra Turkama.

During the competition’s awarding ceremony, ADU also showcased the university’s upcoming new majors and concentrations that include FinTech, business technology and business analytics programs, with teams and volunteers offering students guidance on these programs.

In conjunction with the UAE government’s vision to support innovation, information technology and development, ADU recently announced the expansion of its internationally accredited academic portfolio to include a unique range of postgraduate business programmes, which are MBA in Insurance and Risk Management, MBA in Strategic Management, and MBA in Organisational Excellence and Quality Management. The expansion also includes bachelor programmes in the engineering and business. The programmes, which are currently subject to accreditation, will include BBA in International Business, BBA in Business Sustainability, and BBA in Business Analytics as well as biomedical, cybersecurity, industrial, and software engineering and artificial intelligence and robotics.