DUBAI: The Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Medical and Educational Sciences has announced the winners of its seventh Innovators 2024 competition, highlighting the creativity and innovation of students across the United Arab Emirates. The competition recognized projects that demonstrated exceptional creativity, social impact, quality of execution, and innovation efficiency.
According to Emirates News Agency, the Innovators 2024 competition awarded three teams for their outstanding projects. Abdullah Ahmed Al Hammadi and Fatima Rashid Awad received accolades for their project, Aboory. Mohammed Adnan Mohammed and Ardzin Nathaniel Omaldi were honored for their work on MindSync, while Nabeel Nadeem Al Qadi, Alaa Salah Abdulaziz, and Youssef Rasim Al Shaki were recognized for their Smart Modular Shading System project.
The competition also plans to announce encouragement awards, such as the “Sustainability Award” and the “Community Service Award,” at a later date. All winning teams will be celebrated at a grand ceremony during Innovation Week scheduled for February 2025.
Dr. Khalifa Ali Al Suwaidi, Executive Director of the Foundation, expressed satisfaction with the results, stating, “We are delighted to announce the results of the seventh cycle of the Innovators competition, which began in June last year with the participation of 137 students from schools across the UAE. The performance showcased a remarkable level of skills and knowledge among students, contributing to the competition’s development and expansion.”
Dr. Al Suwaidi further emphasized the competition’s goal of encouraging creative thinking and providing an enabling environment for students to transform their ideas into real-life projects. Out of the 137 participating teams, 45 met the competition criteria, with 20 progressing to the first evaluation phase and nine advancing to the final implementation and evaluation stage, culminating in the selection of three winning teams.