The second season of Stars of Science, a Pan-Arab TV contest on innovation initiated by Qatar Foundation for Education Science and Community Development, has kicked off on TV stations across the Middle East.

The first three weekly episodes of the programme, broadcast at 7.30 pm GMT on Sundays, are dedicated to the Pan-Arab tour leading to the selection of the 16 candidates who will get the chance to enter the Stars of Science workshop that will be held in Doha, and where they will have the opportunity to further develop their project.

A total of 7,000 applications were received from all over the world, including 80 from Jordan where over half the applications came from women.

An international committee of experts, set up specifically for the program, shortlisted 125 profiles of the most innovative concepts and invited them to different cities in the Arab world to present their concepts in front of a jury made up of local experts in each country, in addition to two permanent members of the jury - Dr Fouad Mrad (Lebanon), coordinator at United Nation’s ESCWA Technology Center, and Rashed Ibrahim (Qatar), head of the Qatar Scientific Club.

In Jordan, 28 candidates from the 80 applications received were invited to the University of Jordan to present their projects to the jury, which also included Dr Sa’ed Salhieh, an associate professor of industrial engineering at the university.

From the 28 participants, Iyad Maalouf has been chosen to participate in the last round of selections that will take place in Doha and will be aired across the Arab world on Sunday, October 17. – TradeArabia News Service