Emirati team win ‘MIT Innovation Leadership Bootcamp’ held in UAE

Dubai: An Emirati team project has won the ‘MIT Innovation Leadership Bootcamp’ held in the UAE and will be showcased at Expo 2020 Dubai.

The team of six UAE nationals developed ‘Mehna’, an online platform connecting STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students in the UAE to companies in their industries, with the aim of “widening professional networks and curbing unemployment”.

The winning team comprised students, graduates or master’s degree holders aged between 21 and 25 years, with background in the STEM fields, including biomedical, electrical and chemical engineering. They represent the leading universities, including United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), Zayed University, Khalifa University and the American University of Sharjah. The winning project, along with the second, third and fourth-placed solutions, will be incubated at UAEU Science and Innovation Park and showcased as part of UAEU’s pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.

The boot camp was organised by the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education (AGFE), in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and UAEU, represented by its Science and Innovation Park.

The challenge is in line with the ‘100 Million Stars’ initiative launched by UAEU, which aims to transform the 100 million unemployed youth in the Arab world into “100 million shining stars”, using innovation and entrepreneurship.

The four teams of finalists presented their solutions to a high-profile panel comprising Hussain Al Hammadi, Minister of Education; Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh, Cultural Adviser to the UAE President and the Chancellor of UAEU; and Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of AGFE.