GEMS Innovation Awards 2018 recognises young inventors

Over 200 students across the GEMS Education network of schools were recognised at the GEMS Innovation Awards ceremony held to honour these young inventors.

The awards, held at GEMS Dubai American Academy were spread across four categories – Global Innovation Challenge, GEMS Arab Innovation Centre for Education (AICE) Accelerator Programme, the Sony film-making competition and GEMS Innovative School of the Year.

The Global Innovation Challenge took place earlier this year where students from around the world were invited to submit prototypes using future-focused technologies such as 3D printing, robotics and nanotechnology. The students were announced winners across different categories such as Disaster Resilience, Environment, Energy, Food, Health, Learning, Security, Prosperity, Governance, Space, Shelter and Water. 

The top three winners of the Challenge will have the opportunity to present their projects at the Singularity University Global Summit in Silicon Valley, California between 20 and 22 August.

The three winning teams included Atharv Naik from Cambridge International School, Dubai student with a research-based early skin cancer detection unit, Kasia-Alexei Delpeche from GEMS Wellington Academy Silicon Oasis with a plastic brick-based water filtration and level detection for rural areas and Vishweswar Eswaran from GEMS Modern Academy with an IoT based stackable mobile farming unit.

Dino Varkey, Chief Executive Officer, GEMS Education, said: “We understand the importance of innovation and technology in today’s world and the important role it plays in building a healthier tomorrow. At GEMS Education, we believe it is vital to provide a platform for today’s young minds to create, innovate and bring their ideas to life.

“Our young forward-thinking students are an inspiration to keep working towards creating a smart and sustainable world and I would like to congratulate all our winners on this occasion.”

The AICE Accelerator Programme held over March and April provided students with financial and non-financial support, and mentoring to build customer and growth oriented business plans around their products. The programme culminated in the AICE Demo Day, where each team pitched to the region’s leading technology venture capital firms and investors. The winner was RYDE, an anti-tailgating prototype from GEMS Millennium School, Sharjah.

The winner of the Sony CreatorUp Innovation Stories film competition held last month was also awarded with AED 10,000 for submitting their film called “Unlocked”. The winning team, from Jumeirah College, is called ZEY Productions. 

A total of 250 GEMS students were awarded at the ceremony.