UBER announces ‘FUTURE OF SCHOOLS’ Competition as part of Dubai Innovation Week

Uber, the smartphone technology company, today marked the start of UAE Innovation Week, which was launched with the direction of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai,  by calling on all UAE high-schools to participate in its inaugural ‘Future of Schools’ competition. Launched in collaboration with The General Secretariat of The Executive Council (TEC), the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) and Dubai Education Zone (DEZ), the competition, open to students in grades 10 – 12 and aged 16+, comes as part of a week-long set of initiatives that are meant to encourage innovation at governmental, institutional and educational levels, in line with the UAE’s seven-year strategy to make the country one of the worlds’ most innovative nations by 2021.

“Today’s world is a rapidly evolving one, and as such, efforts to create an environment that both encourages and nurtures innovation need to be intensified. One of Dubai Plan 2021’s aims is to have productive and innovative individuals in a variety of fields; and for this year’s innovation week, we’re thrilled to be partnering with and utilizing Uber’s experience to inspire the students to work together to find solutions for the future of education” said Ms. Hamdah bin Kalban, Senior Consultant at The General Secretariat of the Executive Council of Dubai.

To enter the ‘Future of Schools’ competition, high-schools must nominate a team of 3-5 students, with the support of a mentor, to imagine and design the school of the future that would cater to the needs of our new generations and address key challenges posed by today’s students. The competition will focus on four key themes: accessibility, green friendless, on-demand education and smart learning. Teams have the option of tackling one or more theme(s) and the competition is restricted to the first 15 schools to RSVP.

Hind Al Mualla, Chief of Creativity, Happiness and Innovation at Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) said, “Creating a culture of innovation in schools is the way forward and the ‘Future of Schools’ competition is an important catalyst in our journey to inspire students to think outside the box. Bringing students to the forefront of innovation will inspire a new way of positive thinking. It will create new ideas and present interesting solutions for learners and educators of the future.”

Commenting on the announcement, Christopher Free, General Manager for the UAE at UBER, said: “Fostering a culture of innovation in our high-schools is vital. We firmly believe that students can offer both new perspectives, new solutions, and are often at the crux of innovative thinking. We’re delighted that we’re able to offer them a platform to do so, helping them enhance these ideas in the process, with the support of both TEC, KHDA and DEZ.”

The competition will run over the course of three months as follows:

Competition announcement

• Brief issued to schools by KHDA and DEZ on behalf of Uber, Sunday 22 November, 2015
• School/ students to acknowledge participation, Thursday 10 December, 2015
• Uber ‘open’ day, Tuesday 15^th  and Wednesday 16^th December, 2015

Judging process – round one

• All submissions – in written format or PPT – submitted to Uber, Thursday 21^st Jan 2016
• Announcement of finalists, Thursday 28^th Jan 2016

Judging process – round two

• Five shortlisted teams, each representing a school, will be invited to present their proposals to a high-level panel of judges from both a governmental and institutional level in early February.

Prize

• The winning team, to be announced mid-February, and will win a weeklong trip to Uber’s headquarters in San Francisco.

“We’re delighted to be participating in this competition, building on the direction of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, by taking part in UAE Innovation Week, in partnership with The Executive Council, and through Uber’s ‘Future of Schools’ competition. We hope to see students achieve the competition’s goal, by helping them to develop their creative abilities,” said Haya Bin Saifan, Head of Profitional Administration at Dubai Education Zone.

For more detail on the competition, please contact eventsme@uber.com