01 July 2009
BEIRUT: Lebanese Bassam Jalgha won the Stars of Science innovation competition series after receiving the most votes during the televised finale Sunday. During the final episode of the show the product Jalgha created, "Dozan," an automated tuner for stringed instruments, beat out "Orsod" a cooking oil tester made by a Mohammed Orsod from Sudan. Jalgha's invention also won over several other products during the course of the show held in Doha, Qatar. Jalgha will receive a $300,000 prize for winning the competition.
Stars of Science was held over a period of four months and divided into four sections, starting with the engineering of an invention and ending with the marketing of that product during a launch event which was held at the Aspire Sports Academy in Doha.
At the finale of the show viewers called in and voted for their favorite product. Jalgha received 62 percent of the votes compared to Orsod's 38 percent.
Jalgha, 22, a mechanical engineer, said that by the end of the project he was working on "Dozan" with around 8 other people. "At first I was shocked, but when it hit me that I have a responsibility to live up to the title, I got very excited" Jalgha said about winning the prize.
Jalgha said he wasn't entirely sure what he would do with the prize money but he said he wanted to invest in his future. "I want to sell the idea to a company and work more to develop this project."
The Stars of Science project was started by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. - With additional reporting by Zeinab Nasser
Copyright The Daily Star 2009.
