UAE unveils its brightest, newest ideas at Innovation Week

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UAE unveils its brightest, newest ideas at Innovation Week

A Dubai Municipality employee checks on the iDubai App during the opening of Innovation Week at the Dubai Municipality Headquarters in Dubai on Sunday, November 20, 2016. Photo by Dhes Handumon

Dubai - Launching the first Innovation Week UAE in 2015, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said that "innovation is not an option, but a necessity."

By Staff Reporter

Published: Mon 21 Nov 2016, 7:48 PM

Today's attraction
> Festival of Innovation
> Launching of 'X-Innovation challenge'
> Microsoft-organised 'Hackathon'

The UAE kicked off its second annual Innovation Week on Sunday, with some of the country's best and brightest showcasing the newest technologies and modern-day problem solving methods.
Launching the first Innovation Week UAE in 2015, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said that "innovation is not an option, but a necessity."
"It is not a culture, but work style, and governments and companies that do not innovate risk losing their competitiveness and falling far behind," he added.
In line with that spirit, this year hundreds of events are being planned, ranging from showcases of innovative products, services and apps, to the launch of new national initiatives, 'hackathons', competitions, labs, workshops, and engaging talk sessions. The week-long event will run until November 26.
The Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, for example, has taken the occasion to highlight a number of initiatives in three major pavilions in UAQ, RAK and Fujairah, including a smart library initiative and a virtual exhibition with more than 5,000 paintings related to Islamic art available on the ministry's website.
The website also gives statistics about the UAE's cultural heritage according to the classification of the Unesco and the voice commands initiative in the classical Arabic language, being the first federal ministry to implement this application.
Activities also include a number of workshops related to the culture of innovation and future forecast for UAE employees, customers, school and university students as well as seminars and competitions related to spreading the culture of innovation among society.
No matter what one's interests are, Innovation Week is sure to have something that caters to them.
Events today in Dubai, for example, includes the launch of a "Festival of Innovation" held by the Ministry of Finance, which features a "Little Innovator's workshop, the beginning of an "x-innovation challenge" with a $10,000 prize, and a 36-hour Microsoft-organised 'Hackathon' open to university students from across the country.
Additionally, the government and the rest of the country are keen to hear about how innovation touches the daily lives of people in the UAE - Emiratis and expats alike - and is asking the public to use the #UAE_Innovates hashtag to share their ideas.
For more information on Innovation Week and the activities that are taking place around the country, visit www.uaeinnovates.gov.ae.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com