Prestigious Rolex enterprise awards to come to Middle East next year

Dubai: An international awards programme honouring social entrepreneurs will be held in Dubai in 2008, moving to the region for the first time in its 30-year history, it was announced yesterday.

Under the patronage of Princess Haya Bint Al Hussain, wife of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the ceremony for the Rolex Awards for Enterprise will be held in November 2008.

The move to the Middle East is in part to encourage more applicants from across the region, according to Rebecca Irvin, head of the Rolex Awards for Enterprise Secretariat in Geneva.

"The Arab world has a long-standing tradition of innovation and scientific discovery as well as a rich cultural heritage, so we are confident that there are many potential candidates for the awards in the Middle East and North Africa," she said at a press conference held in Dubai yesterday.

The biennial Awards were set up in 1976 to support individuals who have initiated exceptional ventures in the fields of science and medicine, technology and innovation, exploration and discovery, the environment and cultural heritage. In a bid to encourage more applicants from the Middle East and North Africa, the programme has extended the regional deadline until October 25.

Irvin described the Arab world as "under-represented" at the awards, with the fewest number of nominees coming from the region - only two per cent of the total number in 2006.

"The awards are about doing well, but also doing good and this is something that we would like to get across," she said, adding that applicants from the UAE can be citizens as well as expatriates.

The 2008 awards, the 13th series, will see five laureates each receiving $100,000 (Dh367,258) to be put towards their endeavours, with an additional five associate laureates also chosen.

To apply see www.rolexawards.com

Event

Syrian architect and Rolex Laureate Adli Qudsi, who won in 1998 for his work in cultural preservation in the Syrian town of Aleppo - will be discussing his work this evening at 7pm at Dar Al Nadwa, Bastakiya. The event is open to the public.