Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 24 January 2007 - Ministry of Education (MoE), Intel and MobileCom, a member of Jordan Telecom Group, announced the launch of Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) 2007 in Jordan.

The initiative enables students from 9th, 10th and 11th grades to participate in a series of local fairs through filling the registration form available at their schools or at MobileCom's customer service centers across the Kingdom, after which projects will be selected to be presented in the final fair which will be held in Albuquerque city in New Mexico, USA in May 2007.

As part of its strategy in supporting the youth sector, MobileCom extended its agreement with MoE and Intel in September 2006 to support Intel ISEF 2007, the support includes organizing marketing campaigns to promote the local fairs and other activities related to the international fair.

MoE's spokesperson Mr. Mohammad Al-Zoubi said: "We are proud of our Jordanian youth who share a motive to develop their education and grow in life's different fields. We are always seeking to expand their horizons and give them attractive opportunities through encouraging such successful initiatives".

Al-Zoubai cleared that the last date for Ministry to receive the registration forms that enables students to explain their project is January 30th, 2007. Afterwards, MoE will carry out a selection process to nominate the best projects. Following training workshops, selected candidates will present their projects at local fairs to be held in February and March 2007 in the north, middle and south sectors of the Kingdom. Final selection of projects to be represented in Intel ISEF New Mexico is scheduled for mid-March at an affiliated-local fair for the three sectors together.  Friends, families and others will be invited by general advertisement to visit the Fairs to see the breadth and depth of the projects developed by Jordan's entrepreneurial students.

Mr. Mohammad Al-Zoubi added; "It is worth mentioning that these projects, which cover a number of scientific categories such as mathematics, science, technology, engineering and more, give creative Jordanian students an opportunity to bring their hidden skills and talents to light in order to contribute in building our beloved Jordan". 

MobileCom's CEO Mrs. Majd Shweikeh said: "MobileCom is proud to support this initiative for the second time consecutively since the first year witnessed a huge number of promising students and great success. We look forward to increasing number of Jordanian students participating in the USA fair for year 2007 and raise the name of Jordan through showing their skills and creativity".

For her part, Martina Roth, EMEA Education Director, Intel said: "This fair is part of Intel's initiative "Innovation in Education" which is considered a valuable opportunity for Jordan's promising students to show their creativity and achieve their dreams. Through our constant partnership with MoE and MobileCom, we are looking forward to achieving more success in this year and create great potentials able to contribute in developing the knowledge-based economy".

In cooperation with MoE, Intel carried out training and awareness workshops across the Kingdom for teachers and supervisors to fully prepare them for the project. The Ministry will also organize workshops for judges who will be chosen from Jordanian universities in specialties related to the award's requirements. The workshops will familiarize the judges with the competition's global refereeing procedures which focus on the students' creative ability, scientific thinking, projects' scientific goal, projects' level of proficiency, skill, clarity and team work.    

It's worth mentioning that Intel ISEF is the world's only international science fair. Every year, more than one million students in grades 9-12 in nearly 500 regional scientific fairs around the world participate in 17 different scientific fields, where more than 1400 students from more than 40 countries win the chance to compete over $3 million presented as scholarships and prizes at the Intel ISEF.

In May 2005, at the state of Arizona, USA, Jordan took part in the international fair with two projects, a single and a group project.  In May 2006 and with the support of MobileCom, Jordan also participated in the international fair held at the state of Indiana, USA, with four single projects and two group ones where two Jordanian students won prizes at the fair.

In 2006 thousands of students have applied from different schools across the Kingdom to participate in the scientific competitions, which were supported by the Ministry and MobileCom, and 400 were nominated for the competition. These students then participated in a series of local fairs and competitions, which took place in February 2006 in different areas; the north, the middle and the south regions. Afterwards, students proven to be promising in the domain of science and engineering were chosen to partake in the final local arbitration fairs which were held during mid of February in two fairs; one for the north and the south regions, while the other one was for the middle region. The qualifying students from these fairs were chosen to compete on an international level in Intel ISEF, which took place in Indiana, USA. 

The ISEF comes as part of Intel's Digital Transformation Initiative in the Middle East and highlights Intel's commitment to enhancing education in the region. The Intel Education Initiative is a sustained commitment to prepare all students with the skills required to thrive in the knowledge economy. Through collaboration with educators and governments in more than 50 countries, Intel works to improve teaching and learning through the effective use of technology, and to advance mathematics, science, and engineering education and research.

Intel's education programs are adapted to the needs of individual countries and utilize an approach focused on building local competency for teacher training and technology innovation.

Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live.

-Ends-

For more information please contact:
Riham El Adl
Hill and Knowlton
Tel: + p: +971 4 3344930 ext:112
E-Mail: riham.eladl@hillandknowlton.com

Rola Zaarour
Corporate Communications Manager
Intel Middle East
Turkey and Africa
Tel.: +(971) 4 369 2653
Email:  Rola.zaarour@intel.com

© Press Release 2007