Busy scene from a School of Life session.

Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer

Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) has announced the winners of the ‘Creative Innovation Challenge’ competition, which was launched with the North Star Dubai event accompanying one of the largest technology events, namely, GITEX Global 2022. The competition succeeded in attracting 50 projects from entrepreneurs in the creative sector at local, regional and international levels, presenting innovative solutions for the preservation, dissemination and celebration of the UAE’s cultural heritage, using the latest technology.

Dubai Culture also organised a ceremony to distribute awards to the winners; the first place was won by Popmii from France, who received a prize of $5,000, while in second place was Lisan AI, who received a cash reward of $3,000. Carrotphant Inc came in third place and received $1,000.

The three winning projects were selected after their projects were presented to a jury of experts in the field of heritage, virtual reality applications, artificial intelligence and Web 3.0. Hala Badri, Director General of Dubai Culture, said that “the Creative Innovation Challenge is fully in line with our strategic goals to empower the cultural and creative sector in Dubai and make it a global centre for culture, an incubator for creativity and a thriving hub for talent as well as the global capital of the creative economy.”

Ten innovative projects out of 50 were on the shortlist. They included the MOMI project with MOMI from Italy, which specialise in digital services and web applications for exhibitions. This solution is an interactive guide that documents each visitor’s reaction to a piece of art or a collectible, allowing curators to enrich work with multimedia content.

 Hala Badri, Director General of Dubai Culture.

The artist or gallery owner will be able to win feedback from the audience with detailed real-time analysis. Popmii project from France is a 3D content creation and management platform to help people comfortably build and launch a digital experience online.The idea of the project is to live a heritage experience in augmented reality. Konglomerate Games, a joint venture from Dundee, Scotland, specialises in developing full-fledged video games and their models.

The owner of the project, Jimmy Bankhead, states that electronic games are the best way to engage people in learning and culture as well as preserving heritage. Games can create immersive experiences ideal for engaging audiences to tell a story and share history and culture. Lisan AI – Artificial Intelligence from Dubai, addressed the intangible heritage segment, creating a multilingual modern proof-reader, writing accelerator, teacher and content protector, in one package.

Lisan strives to be the integrated content platform that provides Arabic language proficiency solutions with artificial intelligence at the personal and professional level, in an easy and smooth manner. Kinome Project FZ-LLC from Dubai addresses the challenge of youth groups visiting the UAE who lack local culture and heritage awareness. They can work on it from their homes. Cogry Project or Coding & Play Inc. Project from Seoul, South Korea, created an educational application that enables school students to learn coding as part of their history courses.

The arch3D Liner project project from South Korea uses automation technology with AI learning from 3D and graphic artifact data. IMKI from France aims to edit data to harness artificial intelligence for interactive culture. KitmeK Information Technology, from a Dubai-based team, is a global K-5 curriculum offering learning through play solutions.

The Metaverse Museum solution is from Dubai and specialises in designing a Metaverse museum experience. Meanwhile, Dubai Culture will confer artist and actress Samira Ahmed the title of ‘Theatrical Personality of the Year’ at Dubai Festival for Youth Theatre 2022 (Oct. 19 – 26), in appreciation of her career and contribution to theatre in Dubai and the UAE.

Ahmed began her artistic life at a young age and joined the Dubai People’s Theatre in 1977, achieving commendable success after her participation in the series ‘Elikum Maa Al Tahiya’, as well as after appearing on television. Among the twenty plus plays she has been featured in, ‘Weld Faqr Tayeh Fe Naema’, ‘Qadi Mudheel Thamaniyoon’ and ‘Hikaya Lam Tarweeha Shahrazad’ are notable. Ahmed has won many awards in the UAE and abroad, including Best Actress in a First Role for the play ‘Wedding Night’, as well as the Emirates Appreciation Award.

In Tunisia, she won the prize for Best Amateur Female at the Carthage Festival for the play ‘Cafe Bouhamdeh’. She was a jury member of the Dubai Festival for Youth Theatre for several years, and also participated in the jury of the second session of the Dubai Festival of School Theatre.

As part of the School of Life project launched by Dubai Culture in June, the Dubai Public Library is hosting educational and creative sessions under the theme ‘Islamic Civilization’ through October, across Al Safa Art and Design, Al Twar, Al Mankhool and Hor Al Anz public libraries.

The programme includes discussions covering various types of Islamic arts, from the visuals in the Introduction to Islamic Art session, through to the foundations of architecture covered in Elements of Ancient Islamic Architecture, in addition to one entitled An Introduction to Mosque Architecture.

The programme also covers the arts of handicrafts, such as the glass industry, which is being highlighted in a session entitled Glass in the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization, as well as a gathering on Early Islamic Textiles: Inscribed Garments, which covers the art of making and designing Islamic textiles, and sessions celebrating the Art of Arabic Islamic Calligraphy, among others.