Imran Mojib, Special Correspondent

The UAE Innovation Month in Sharjah, hosted by the Sharjah Book Authority, came to a close on Friday. The event drew the participation of local and federal government entities, international private companies, and university students, who introduced visitors to their innovations aimed at facilitating people’s lives and improving the institutional work system.

On the final day of the UAE Innovation Month in Sharjah, Sharjah Municipality held two workshops. The first, titled “We Create, We Innovate”, involved a set of creative activities for children from 4 to 10 years old to teach them how to create art from recycled material. The second workshop, meanwhile, was entitled “Future Inspector”. It presented an AR video that explained the inspection mechanism followed by the Municipality, clarifying key health practices that must be followed by a food facility.

Ahmed Al Qasir, Head of the UAE Innovation Month in Sharjah Committee, said the various activities and participation attracted more than 7700 visitors, who flocked to Sharjah Book Authority over the course of the event to view participants’ latest service developments and innovations aimed at improving government performance in Sharjah and achieving sustainable development goals.

He pointed out that the UAE Innovation Month in Sharjah is a supportive platform for the talented and distinguished in various sectors, including health, environment, technology and others, and aims to turn the country into a beacon of innovation and a destination for creatives, innovators and inventors from all over the world.

The UAE Innovation Month in Sharjah this year saw Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah and Chairman of the Sharjah Executive Council, honour the three winners of the first edition of Sharjah Innovation Award.

The first winner was Asma Mohammed Al Shaibani from Sharjah Municipality for her project “Developing Solutions for DNA Isolation and Genetic Testing”, a world’s first of its kind and a core innovation in scientific research that will benefit the health and food sectors.

The second place was won by Hassan Rashid, Prima Nand and Devia Bhatia for introducing an alternative to table salt using an organic plant.

In the third place came Ruqaya Abdullah, Aysha Al Suwaidi and Ola Al Seidi from the University of Sharjah for their project of extracting biofuel from environment-friendly substances using the heat of sunlight.

The Sharjah Innovation Award seeks to support and motivate innovators to offer creative solutions in all areas. It also looks to establish competitive capabilities to enhance sustainability, and to adopt the concept of innovation as a lasting culture in the Emirate to establish innovation-supporting institutions, complexes and centres.

Major businesses from around the world participated in the event with workshops aimed at introducing the public to the main concepts of innovation, instilling a culture of innovation in people’s lives, and turning creativity into a way of life. These included Dell Technologies, SAP, Huawei, Amazon, IBM, PWC , Russian Centre of Digital Innovation & ICT, Google, Intel, Microsoft, OpenSUSE, Scientific Business Solutions, Tekler, ThynkBlynk, and Wide Impact.

A total of 79 workshops were held in cooperation with the UAE Innovation Month in Sharjah Committee, by local and federal government entities, universities, and private firms in the Emirate and beyond. The workshops stressed the importance of modern thinking based on innovation, instead of traditional methods, to find solutions that help accelerate sustainable development in Sharjah and the wider UAE. They drew the participation of 4,139 participants.

Other participants in the UAE Innovation Month in Sharjah include Sharjah Police General Headquarters, Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, Sharjah Municipality, Bee’ah, Horouf, Department of Housing, Department of Town Planning and Survey, the Social Services Department, Sahab Smart Solutions, the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kalimat, Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park, Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre “Sheraa”, Sharjah Institute for Heritage, Sharjah Girl Guides, Environment and Protected Areas Authority, Sharjah Archaeology Authority, Ministry of Community Development, University of Sharjah, and Higher Colleges of Technology.