DEWA has organised an event to honour the winning teams in the Hackathon Challenge 2017 at the Raffles Dubai Hotel. Over 150 students from 24 teams from 30 universities in the UAE took part in the event, which supports the directives of the wise leadership to encourage and spread a culture of innovation amongst young people, and promote innovation. The winning teams included the American University of Sharjah, University of Sharjah, Amity Dubai University, Bits Pilani Dubai Campus, and Heriot-Watt University, Dubai.
The Hackathon Challenge motivated university students to provide creative ideas and innovative solutions that support the organisation’s strategic directions to enhance creativity and innovation within itself and those involved. The competition brought together creative youth from various vital disciplines to highlight innovative ideas and solutions in energy, technology, and sustainability.
HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, expressed his sincere congratulations to the winning teams. “We were very pleased with the great turnout to participate in the competition and the enthusiasm of the participating university students, which shows that young people are fully aware of the importance of innovation in keeping pace with rapid developments around the world, and their ability to put forward ideas and innovative solutions that contribute to the manufacture of a bright future that meets the aspirations of society. This participation is the result of the guidelines of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to support young people, explore the future, employ creative potentials and involve the younger generations in achieving sustainable development in all its environmental, social, and economic aspects to build a brighter future. Through the launch of youth-focused programmes and competitions, we aim to foster innovation, attract new innovators and serve the organisation’s strategic objectives to achieve sustainability, drive smart transformation and contribute to the translation of the Smart Dubai Initiative’s objectives to make Dubai the most intelligent and exciting city in the world, and the 10X Initiative to propel Dubai 10 years ahead of other cities,” said Al Tayer.
“This successful and unique competition has contributed to the national innovation strategy launched by His Highness to make the UAE one of the most innovative countries in the world and the Dubai Innovation Strategy, that was launched by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai and Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Dubai Future Foundation, to make Dubai the most innovative city in the world. Innovation accounts for 40% of the DEWA 2021 strategy. We are keen to raise awareness about the creative skills of the next generation to achieve the objectives of the Dubai Plan 2021, to transform Dubai into a city of happy, creative, and empowered people who have smart, integrated and connected services to meet their needs,” added Al Tayer.
“I urge all universities to continue to work hard to instil innovation on a daily basis for students, for a better tomorrow. We were keen to clarify the four challenges in which the participating teams were racing during an interactive workshop in the presence of the stakeholders. We explained to the students our strategic objectives and the criteria for evaluating and selecting the winning teams. We also provided consultants to provide support to teams during the competition. The competition is in line with our ongoing commitment to instil a culture of innovation as an institutional value and standard practice that will contribute to raising the efficiency and performance of government work. By nurturing innovation and young innovators, we seek to support our innovation-based and future-oriented approach. We look forward to more successful participations during future events organised by DEWA,” added Al Tayer.