The
Ministry of Education has decided to increase the value of prizes to be awarded
to the winning projects at the competitions held at the National Science,
Technology and Innovation Festival, which
is organized by the ministry in Dubai Festival Arena between
January 31st and February 4th, 2019
concurrently with the UAE Innovation Month.
The
ministry’s decision is based on its interest in motivating students to exert
more efforts and innovate viable pioneering projects and follows its approval
to increase the number of projects participating in this edition to 200, up
from 100 projects in the previous editions, in a bid to motivate students to
give free reign to their best innovative ideas and scientific projects that can
be adopted and upgraded by the participating government and private institutions.
Dr.
Amna Al Dahak Al Shamsi, Assistant Under-secretary for Care and Activities
Sector, affirmed that the Ministry of
Education’s decision to increase the number of participating projects and the
value of prizes for the projects winning the Science Fair’s competition in the third edition of the festival highlights
the great importance of the festival as an effective national platform that
takes the ideas of our creative students to promising prospects and sharpen
their skills and expertise in the fields of innovation and science and
technology.
This
is in line with the UAE’s vision and future orientations, which rely on the
minds of its people for pushing the wheel of development and modernization in
all vital fields and sectors, thus maintaining the state's prominent position
on the global innovation map, she added.
The
ministry has identified four categories of prizes for the
projects participating in the Science Fair, which targets two groups of
students, the first comprising students of 9-12 grades and the second students of
5-8 grades. The prizes reflect the fields of projects participating in the
Science Fair, these being technology, biological sciences, social and
behavioral sciences, chemistry, mathematics and physics. The value of the first
category of the competition – Young Scientist Prize – is AED71,000 and is given
to one project only at the Science Fair level. A similar prize of AED25,000
will be given to the second place winner at the level of all participating
projects, irrespective of the competitions.
The
ministry explained that it increased the value of prizes of the second category
of the Science Fair to AED10,000, which would be given to the best 4 individual
projects participating in the 4 said fields by students from 5-8 grades and
9-18 grades. The ministry added that it would also grant a prize of AED10,000
to the best team project in each field of the two groups in addition to another
prize of AED10,000 for the best project supervisor in both groups.
The
ministry has established a prize of AED15,000 for the
best participating school and will be given to one school only, subject to
several criteria including the number of projects that the school is participating
with in the Science Fair within the festival and the number of projects that
the school is participating with in each field of the Science Fair.
The
third category features the prizes of the science, technology and innovation policy’s
fields, which will be determined by the supporting government and private entities
of the National Science, Technology and Innovation Festival. These entities
will adopt some of the projects participating in the festival, which are in
turn in line with the vision of the supporting entities and serve their scopes
of work and fields of specialization. The
ministry stated that all government and private institutions would be able to
participate in the festival and introduce prizes within the proposed
competitions.
The
ministry has introduced a fourth category targeting Emirati students for the
post-festival stage. Those of the best projects participating in the Science Fair will be invited to
participate in several international
scientific exhibitions and forums such as the BT Young Scientist &
Technology Exhibition in Ireland, Kuwait Innovation Prize, London International
Youth Forum, Globe environment exhibition and the programs of the Ambassadors
of Future and Innovation. The
students will continue working on their projects after the festival and the
most distinguished projects will be displayed in Al Bahr Palace where the
students will be honored, while their efforts will be recognized and their
projects promoted at the highest levels.
The
ministry stated that apart from the prizes to be given to the projects
participating in the Science Fair, other prizes would be given to the
participants in Fikrati (My Idea) competition, which is part of the activities
of the National Science, Technology and Innovation Festival and targets kindergarten
pupils up to grade 4. The Fikrati competition comprises three prizes, the first
worth AED5,000 for kindergarten pupils, the second worth AED5,000 for students
of grade 1 and 2 and is given to one male or female student only and the third
worth AED5,000 for students of grades 3-4
22/01/2019