Abu Dhabi – Emirati entrepreneurs have been playing a bigger role in developing and presenting scientific content at the Abu Dhabi Science Festival each year. This will make the annual event more sustainable in the long term, organisers said.
This year, at the fifth edition of the festival, which seeks to inspire UAE youth towards pursuing further studies and careers in the fields of science, technology and innovation, 40 per cent of the content has been developed by local entities, including two start-ups owned by Emiratis.
In the past, most of the exhibits and shows were provided by the Edinburgh International Science Festival or other international firms.
“The Abu Dhabi Science Festival will become more and more sustainable over the years if its content is developed and procured locally, and this is why we are happy to see Emirati entrepreneurs taking such keen interest in it,” Dr Linda Silver, associate director for content at the Abu Dhabi Technology Development Committee (TDC), told Gulf News. The TDC organises the Festival in collaboration with the emirate of Abu Dhabi’s education sector regulator, the Abu Dhabi Education Council.
The locally-produced exhibits and workshops are of the same quality as those procured from outside the UAE, and Dr Silver said they are also more culturally relevant.
One of these is the Hydrogen Pit Stop Challenge, an activity in which children nine years and older learn about hydrogen and renewable energy and build a hydrogen-powered race car. It has been conceptualised by engineering and educational solutions firm, Handasa, which is headed by two science-trained Emiratis.
“This is the first time we are participating in the Festival, and we hope the workshop will help get children interested in the sciences,” said Ali Al Taee, chief executive officer at Handasa. He himself graduated as a mechanical engineer in 2009.
“As a child, I liked experimenting with materials, and I enjoyed challenging myself. I’d like to instil the same passion in today’s children,” he said.
Another Emirati-headed firm participating in the Festival is electronics trading company Zero Ohm Electronics. The firm’s workshop introduces children to the basic concepts of radioactivity.
Mohammad Al Mheiri, one of its three Emirati founders, said he loved to try something out, fail at it and try again till he succeeded.
“This is why I studied mechanical engineering at university, and pursued a postgraduate degree in Nuclear Engineering. We hope our workshop will help motivate participants to pursue the sciences as well,” he added.
The Science Festival runs at Mushrif Central Park in the capital and Al Ain Zoo until Saturday.
