SHARJAH/Sharjah Government Media Bureau – Sharjah Youth Council on Thursday evening held a youth circle to discuss the importance of innovation as part of the UAE Innovation Month in Sharjah, being celebrated from February 15 to 21 at Al Majaz Waterfront and the Sharjah Centre for Astronomy and Space Sciences.
Titled “From Innovation to Prosperity”, the youth circle was led by Sharjah Youth Council members Nada Al Turaifi and Aref Al Madfaa at the Innovation Platform, which is actually a bus that wanders around various emirates and can be transformed into a platform to introduce visitors to the significance of innovation.
Al Turaifi started the meeting by emphasising the important role of youth councils, describing them as the voice that enables young members of the society to convey their ideas to other members.
Citing an example on the power of creativity, Al Turaifi told the story of Doug Dietz, the creator of the MR Adventure Discovery Series, who turned MRI scanners into adventures to help children, frequently terrified by the idea of lying still and alone in the huge, noisy equipment, get through the scan. With some paint, scents, lights and a little imagination, Dietz and his team transformed scan rooms into adventure stories, with the patient starring in the lead role. In one room, the room is an ocean and the scanner is a submarine. In another, the scanner becomes a tent in a camping experience. The MR Adventure Discovery Series scanners have been hugely popular with kids.
The Sharjah Youth Council member spoke about the five stages of the design thinking process: Empathise, Define (the problem), Ideate, Prototype, and Test. "This thinking process, which is adopted by many huge companies focusing on innovation, including Apple, Google and Microsoft, is based on creativity to generate logical solutions to problems and challenges," said Al Turaifi.
She added: "The UAE attaches utmost importance to innovation because the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan pioneered this field, when he united the seven emirates and transformed the UAE from a desert into a green paradise."
“The country has launched several initiatives to support innovation, such as Innovation Ambassadors, Government Accelerators, the UAE Innovation Month and many more,” cited Al Turaifi.
For his part, Al Madfaa, who is also the owner of five start-ups, talked about five steps to innovation: Create meaning, Choose an attractive slogan, Jump to the next level, Go against expectations and Seek distinction and value together.
He asserted the importance of innovative projects and ideas that have value, noting that despite the attractive nature of distinctive and unique projects, they also have to be valuable to draw investments and serve the community.
The Sharjah Youth Council member indicated that an idea owner must be aware of their idea in a way that enables them to explain it and convince others to invest in it through a conversation that does not exceed 30 seconds.
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