Third MoI Smart Applications Award for University Students Launched

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - Monday, September 14th 2015 [ME NewsWire]

The Ministry of Interior launched the third edition of the Ministry of Interior’s Smartphone Applications Award 2015-2016 for university students. The launch event took place on Monday during a forum held at Fairmont Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The award reflects the keenness of the Ministry to open new horizons for creativity and to provide an environment that encourages innovation.

In his address at the opening ceremony to launch the new edition of the Award, Major General Dr. Nasser Lakhrebani Al Nuaimi, Secretary General of the Office of HH Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior stressed that the higher leadership seeks to develop smart services and provide them in an easy and simplified manner to customers through their smart phones, thus allowing all segments of society to avail these services. Major General Al Nuaimi lauded the creativity demonstrated by university students and their distinguished creations, which compete handily with global technology companies.

Adding further, he said: “We are every confidence that this innovative and giving generation will come up with innovative and leading ideas to further develop smart services that would reinforce Ministry of Interior’s partnership with government organizations and other agencies affiliated with the UAE smart government, as well as with globally recognized private institutions in the field of technology such as Google, Microsoft, and Samsung, which offer technical support to students so that they improve their creations”.

Major General Al Nuaimi also noted that through the launch of the third edition of the award, the Ministry of the Interior seeks to support and motivate university students. It also aims to adopt their smart ideas that take inspiration from the distinguished Emirati environment and its outstanding leadership, which builds on smart strategic planning to cater to the needs of the Emirati citizen. We take pride in the prominent stature that the UAE has managed to attain in all fields, so as to achieve its clear vision in conveniently providing the best services in a simplified manner via smartphones”.

For his part, Colonel Mohammed Hamid bin Dalmouj Al Dhaheri, Strategy and Performance Development Director General at the Ministry of Interior emphasized that the award reflects the directives set for the implementation of the Smart Government, in pursuance of the higher leadership’s vision. “The award supports creativity and innovative individuals and promotes the concept of efficient team work between academic institutions and government agencies,” he added.

He noted that the prizes will be distributed as follows:

First place: Dh100,000

Second place: Dh75,000

Third place: Dh50,000.

The supervisory staff prizes are as follows:

First place: Dh10,000

Second place: Dh8,000

Third place: Dh7,000.

The universities’ prizes include: commemorative shields, certificates of appreciation and esteem, prizes for members of the supervisory staff and prizes for jury members.

The Ministry of Interior had successfully sponsored the first and second editions of the award in the past two years, which witnessed a significant turnout of academic institutions. Previous winners were honored based upon five criteria which include: creativity, innovation, ease of use, professionalism, specialization, antecedence and need, efficiency, effectiveness, and added value.

Major Dr. Ali Bin Daen Al Ghafli, Head of the Organizational Excellence Department at the Ministry of Interior, gave an overview of the smartphone applications’ award. He said: “The award is part of the Minister of Interior’s Excellence Awards and aims to encourage competitiveness and creativity; enhance strategic partnerships with the educational institutions; engage university students in assessing the MoI’s services and encourage them to provide innovative smart solutions based on the customers’ needs.”

The forum included introductory presentations and the launch of motivational initiatives for students. Engineer Majed Al Mazloum, from the Smart Government Creativity Center at the TRA, briefed the attendees about the smart government’s services for university students.  He also highlighted the role of the center in catering to students’ needs; in order to allow them to develop their creative ideas and smart applications, spread the spirit of innovation, submitting these innovations to major companies like Microsoft and Google, and assessing the applications via international smart platforms.

Engineer Omar Al Mahmoud from the ICT Fund gave a presentation, highlighting the Fund’s objectives and its role in providing financing opportunities for students’ smart projects through educational scholarships, as well as funding research and development projects. He also explained that 610 engineering scholarships were offered inside the country and abroad; and 14 research projects were financed in this regard.

Major global companies Microsoft and Samsung made a number of presentations about the creativity and innovation environment, supporting students’ projects and promoting them online, providing rewarding job opportunities and supporting creative and innovative ideas. The Exceed Information Technology Company made offers to support students’ projects and motivate them to launch their own private companies.

The students’ forum focused on the Ministry Of Interior’s efforts in support of students through introductory presentations about the artistic and technical aspects of the award; its goals and prizes through a panel discussion to answer students’ administrative and technical inquiries; and to explain the different services related to organizational and administrative issues in terms of conditions for participation in the award and services.

The forum began with a minute of silence and prayer observed by the attendees for the Emirati martyrs who died while performing their national duty. A short documentary film was then screened, showcasing the achievements made at the past editions of the Smartphone Applications Award.

The award launching forum was attended by Brigadier Eng. Hussein Al Harithi, Director General of Central Operations at Abu Dhabi Police; a number of high ranking officers; Dr. Arif Al Hammadi, Director of Khalifa University; Khaled Kamal, Head of the Governmental Sector in Samsung; Saeed Al Suwaidi, Deputy Director General of Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA); a number of officials from the public and private sectors; and students from more than 50 accredited universities from across the UAE.

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Abu Dhabi Police, please click HERE

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The Arabic-language text of this announcement is the official, authoritative version. Translations are provided as an accommodation only, and should be cross-referenced with the Arabic-language text, which is the only version of the text intended to have legal effect.

Contacts

The UAE Minister of Interior's General Secretariat, Tactical Affairs and Security Media Department

Abu Dhabi Police GHQ - Security Media

Chris Cron +971-(0)-50-666-4891

E-mail: cron.media@hotmail.com

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