His Excellency Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, awarded the winners of the first edition of the Research and Innovation Award, organized by the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MoEI) to accelerate the development of innovative solutions to challenges in energy, water, infrastructure, transport, and housing.
Coinciding with UAE Innovates 2023, the award ceremony drew the participation of senior officials at MoEI and other government entities and representatives of private sector companies and stakeholders.
The Award covered six key areas, including the impacts of climate change on the resilience of the energy and infrastructure sectors, better integration of urban planning, future mobility solutions, innovative housing solutions, balanced national energy, and water security and sustainability. It targeted participations from the government sector, private sector, universities and R&D centers, startups, individual researchers and experts, and youth.
The winners of the government sector category were Al Ain City Municipality, Dubai Municipality, Abu Dhabi City Municipality, Ras Al Khaimah Municipality, and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority.
For the private sector category, the awards went to Bee’ah Group and Abu Dhabi Distribution Company. Awards for the universities and R&D centers category were bagged by Khalifa University, University of Sharjah, Abu Dhabi University, University of Wollongong in Dubai, and New York University Abu Dhabi.
Winners of the start-ups category were Wahaj Solar and Mawarid Desert Control, and for the individual researchers and experts category, Dr Umair Hasan, Zeeshan Hameed, Zafar Said, Adel bin Hassouna Hamami, Dr Ameena Al Sumaiti, and Eng Rami Asad bani Shamsa secured the awards.
Eng Noora Saeed, Eng Asma Al Mazrouei, Eng Asma Daher, and Eng Sumaih Al Dhuri were awarded for the youth category.
Speaking at the award ceremony, His Excellency Suhail Al Mazrouei said: “Innovation is in our DNA. As we follow in the steps of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, we are keen to drive efforts to turn the UAE into a global center of excellence. To help achieve this goal, we launched the Research and Innovation Award that aims to incorporate innovation into the processes within our various sectors. We are confident that the winning studies and solutions submitted by the participants will advance our sustainability agenda at the Ministry. This year’s edition comes at a critical time, as we gear up to host the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) this November at Expo City Dubai.”
For her part, Eng Nusaiba Al Marzouqi, Director of Studies and Research and Chief Innovation Officer at MoEI, said: “The Ministry is keen to support innovators, adopt excellence, and build human capacities as part of its strive to establish an innovation ecosystem. The Research and Innovation Award fits perfectly into our drive. This edition has received 128 applications from 60 entities and individuals. With the help of 76 judges of experts and professors, we managed to evaluate and shortlist the submissions to eventually handpick 24 ground-breaking studies that we celebrate today. We will work with the winners to implement their studies that will improve our processes at the Ministry.”