The first-ever high school innovation challenge in Dubai, known as the HGEM Innovation Challenge (HIC), a sprint-like event in which multi-disciplinary teams collaborate to create solutions to prompts under a time constraint, will take place from March 14 to 16.

The event is organized by the Harvard Undergraduate Global Education Movement (HGEM), a recognized student organization at Harvard College, and in partnership with Harvard Club of the UAE, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) in Dubai, and the Ismaili Centre Dubai.

HIC will target important regional issues including public health, education, and sustainability as UAE high school students explore ways to continue the rapid innovation in the region.

Specifically, the mission of HIC is to:

1.    Explore innovative solutions and formulate strategies to address regional challenges across the UAE. The 2019 event centers on three key issues:

•    Public Health: challenging diabetes &obesity and addressing mental health.
•    Education: tackling issues around education quality, student satisfaction, and education distribution.
•    Sustainability: addressing techniques to improve on metropolitan infrastructure, energy costs, water use, and city congestion.

2.    Provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their intellectual creativity in a results-driven competition

3.    Promote collaboration among youth leaders across diverse academic backgrounds

The event will be a true celebration of social innovation and entrepreneurship, bringing together the UAE’s brightest students.  A total of 100 participants will be selected through a competitive online application based on academic accomplishments and leadership potential. Interested students and faculty are invited to apply by January 30.

Participants will be grouped into teams and tasked with designing, creating, and presenting solutions to address the regional topics in a competitive learning environment.

The event will invite speakers and thought leaders from leading universities and organizations in the region to present on the three event themes as well as Harvard College students to lead workshops and debates for the conference. Selected teams will showcase their projects in a final round pitch competition followed by an award ceremony.  – TradeArabia News Service