The UAE Innovation Month in Sharjah, which runs from February 8-14 at the Sharjah Book Authority, on its fifth day was visited by Sheikh Fahim bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairman of Sharjah's Department of Government Relations (DGR), who viewed the participations of local and federal government entities, as well as those of international private companies.
The DGR Chairman expressed his happiness with the various government participations, which reflect Sharjah’s march towards a future of creativity and innovation, in accordance with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council member and Ruler of Sharjah, to adopt creative thinking based on continuous learning towards a sustainable future.
The variety of workshops that were held as part of day five of the UAE Innovation Month in Sharjah saw attracted a total number of 782 participants.
“OpenSUSE” participated with a workshop entitled “Open Source in Action”, to discuss open source as a culture, how people and organisations contribute and how to become enterprise ready inside "SUSE Factory". Microsoft, meanwhile, held a workshop under the title of " Microsoft Teams: a collaboration hub for educators", providing an in-depth look at Microsoft Teams – a collaboration hub for faculty members and students to communicate, collaborate, and share content.
Through a workshop entitled "The future of everything is AI", Google spoke about artificial intelligence applications in today's life, and how it is transforming every single industry, while its second workshop, titled "Google Developer Student Club", discussed how to establish a student club focused on latest Google Technologies.
Wide Impact presented “Innovation Debate: The public sector is more innovative than the private sector”, a live debate that saw professionals and experts speak on innovation in the public and private sectors.
Scientific Business Solutions SBS, in its first workshop titled "Towards more sustainable future!", discussed the UN’s sustainable development goals with a focus on the circular economy, such as: sustainable waste management, electricity and alternative fuels, as well as sustainability assessments of waste-to-energy (electricity) generation technologies. The second workshop, themed "Sustainable Solutions in Compliance with Environmental Regulations (Innovative Ideas)", talked about the relationships between environmental regulations, firms' innovative ideas, and private sustainability benefits, and the help of innovative ideas to be compliant with national and international environmental regulations.
Pharma Global presented a workshop on "Pharmaceutical market digitisation challenges in Middle East & North Africa region", which touched upon the transition period affecting the MENA pharmaceutical market and associated challenges, lessons and milestones, as well as how to shorten this transition period. AstroLabs, on the other hand, held a workshop under the title of "Bringing Ideas to Life with no code", which sought to explain the mechanism of building fully functional applications, without learning how to code.
Sharjah Police General Headquarters participated with a workshop on "Preparing for the Next Fifty Years", sharing with participants the UAE’s vision and objectives for the next fifty years and the role of innovation in implementing the UAE Centennial Plan 2071. UAE University held a workshop on "Innovation in Leadership", which discussed leadership of innovation, how to use innovation for effective leadership, cooperation at work to achieve the best results, and encouraging leadership innovation among workers in institutions.
Sharjah Municipality held three workshops: "Health Educator", to promote awareness among students of the need to wash hands and follow healthy practices, "Innovation Lab", which allowed children to conduct scientific experiments in an entertaining and innovative manner, and “Future Engineering”, which displayed an AR video on how sites are received by the Municipality.
Tabayan Consulting Centre presented a workshop themed "The Human Brain and Innovation: The Mechanism of Creating and Supporting an Innovative Mindset", confirming that a creative mindset comes from a supportive family and a leading educational environment that stimulate innovation. Meanwhile, The Ideology Training Institute held a workshop on “Future Foresight” to introduce participants to some of the latest future foresight tools that will help them explore future implications across various fields and prepare for them.
More Government Participations
Bee'ah
Bee'ah participated with its project, "Office of the Future- Bee’ah Headquarters", the first fully AI integrated building in the Middle East and a smart Office of the Future.
Kalimat
Kalimat Foundation’s “Ara” initiative was launched to promote the production of reading material to blind and visually impaired children in the MENA region.
Sheraa
Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre ‘Sheraa’ participated with four projects:
1- Englease: an online platform that provides live, credited and flexible English classes in the MENA region
2- Elgrocer: a grocery delivery marketplace platform that aims to facilitate the grocery experience for shoppers, retailers and brands
3- Foloosi: an online payment gateway for managing personal finances
4- Caravan: An application that allows users to find the best bus for their commute to and from work.
More than 80 Sharjah and UAE government organisations, universities and local and international companies are taking part in the UAE Innovation Month in Sharjah activities, showcasing the best of futuristic innovations, life-changing ideas and scientific advances shaping the future and offering ease of living to residents.