Festival showcases best of innovative solutions

Imran Mojib, Special Correspondent

Sheikh Salem Bin Abdulrahman Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Ruler’s Office, on Monday visited various stands and activities, showcasing the best of innovations and creative new ideas developed and offered by various government organisations, universities and local and international companies as part of the UAE Innovation Month in Sharjah, being held from Feb.8-14 at the Sharjah Book Authority.

Sheikh Salem Bin Abdulrahman Al Qasimi was briefed on the various innovative inventions, products and services that have been unveiled as part of the efforts to enhance the government work and facilitate various services for the Emirate’s residents to improve the ease of living and achieve sustainable development.

The day three of the festival of innovation also witnessed a number of workshops explaining the concept of innovation and why it is critical for a young nation like the UAE to adopt it as a way of life in all spheres of life — economic, education and science, health and services — to prepare itself for the future. More than 500 experts took part in these workshops.

Major international companies and Sharjah government institutions conducted a number of workshops and presentations. International technology giant, Intel, conducted a workshop titled ‘Intel Applications in Artificial Intelligence’ to explain the breathtaking advances being made in the field of Artificial Intelligence and how companies and employers around the world are using it to improve their performance.

Huawei, another international technology giant, hosted a workshop on ‘A Smart and Safe City’ highlighting the concept of safe and smart cities and how latest information and communication technologies are being used to build an integrated system for smart cities using technologies that combine cloud computing, the Internet of things, big data and Artificial Intelligence.

“What is the first thing that expresses your mind when you hear Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality?” Pokémon Go and a number of other video games may come to mind. However, thanks to if a workshop conducted by PwC, you realise that these concepts are not just related to video games. The workshop, “Are you ready to start 2020 with a Reality Check?” explains that AR and VR will contribute as much as $1.5 trillion to the global economy by 2030, and over $4 billion to the UAE economy by 2030. The workshop “How to protect and market your invention” organised by the University of Sharjah offered an overview of critical issues like intellectual property rights and the importance of protecting ideas and inventions in order to market and generate financial revenues from them.

In a workshop titled “Skills from Google: Innovation in the digital field”, organised by Google and “Wide Impact”, the two companies hosted an hour long discussion on the concept of digital innovation and how to benefit from the “Maharat min Google” programme, which aims to help people learn digital skills.

Sharjah Municipality presented three workshops. The first entitled “Engineering of the Future”, featured a video with augmented reality technology explaining the way various sites are viewed by the Municipality. The “Innovate with Robot” workshop aimed to teach children the basics of programming in a simple and fun way.

The workshop “Electronic Security” reviewed the concept of promoting a culture of information security among children through awareness and training them in the safe use of smart devices, Internet websites and social networking sites. The “Holistic Approach to Cybersecurity and Digital Independence” workshop, organised by “Trusted Access”, introduced a new approach to protecting data from complex cyber risks.

Participants in the “Artificial Intelligence Diploma” workshop, organised by the Excellence Horizons Consulting and Training Company, learned about the concept of Artificial Intelligence and its various forms and uses, along with applications of different forms of AI, and best practices in the Artificial Intelligence project. The Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park (SRTI Park) participated by showcasing two projects, the first entitled “SOILABS”, which is the Sharjah Innovation Lab, and the second project called “Merlin Green Homes and Sustainable Agriculture”.

Al Hilal Capital and Think hosted two workshops on the Blockchain technology and how it’s going to shape the future. Attendees learned the power of blockchain and encryption, in addition to explaining the basic structures, benefits and opportunities of blockchain technology.