(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Ten 'innovative' teams made their way to the final round of Arab Innovation Centre for Education (AICE) accelerator programme on Tuesday.
The final winner will be announced on May 3 with the winning team receiving Dh10000 cash prize and guidance to turn their school projects into business start-ups. TEN FINALISTS THEIR PROJECTS
> Our Own English Highschool Al Ain : Tomahawk an actuator a type of motor for cartridge-less printing. > The Winchester School Jebel Ali : Thermalator a solar-powered system to control the water temperature > GEMS Modern Academy : Obstacle Detecting Instrument a smart shoe for the visually-challenged > Cambridge International School Dubai : Dido an interactive educational 'click and play' game > GEMS Modern Academy : Hydrophobia a 'super hydrophobic coating' which can repel water. > Our Own English High School Fujairah : Futuristic Energy Solution to generate electricity > GEMS Modern Academy : Grener Irrigation an innovative water-efficient irrigation system > GEMS International School Al Khail : Stranded an all-terrain hybrid vehicle to help the stranded > GEMS Modern Academy : Mirror Magic which provides digital wardrobe information for the fashion conscious > The Millennium School : AltAir a drone equipped with GPS that can survey roads and detect number of cars At the programme launched by GEMS Education young innovators pitched their creations with the objective of turning school projects into business start-ups. The teams were selected from over 700 applicants based on the commercial feasibility of their ideas. They received training and participated in workshops covering business modelling planning and pitching to investors. "The launch of the first programme under the AICE has marked a great milestone in support of the UAE leadership's ambitious vision to contribute to the development and nurturing of entrepreneurial spirit in the region. "At GEMS we are proud to support this vision by helping to grow generations of problem-solvers thinkers and doers creating positive value in society" said Dino Varkey Group Executive Director and Board Member of GEMS Education. The AICE launched the programme to provide a platform and build an ecosystem to promote foster and practise research innovation and entrepreneurship. Karan Deep GEMS Education Innovation and Development manager told Khaleej Times: "It's amazing to see the talent and passion of these young innovators. Besides the cash prize the winning team will also receive mentorship and the opportunity to network with business leaders and investors."
The winning projects > Our Own English Highschool Al Ain Tomahawk: Kevin Sibichen Ashwin Philip Vishal Menon Mohammed Ismail Vishnu Venugopal Davis George Faheem Ahmed and Jayajith Jayachandran made an actuator a type of motor that is responsible for moving or controlling a mechanism for a cartridge-less printing. Instead of putting cartridge in the printer the team swapped this with a pen for more economical printing. > The Winchester School Jebel Ali Thermalator : Mahnoor Irfan Calvin Francis Muskaan Fatnani Akshar Patel produced 'Thermalator' a solar-powered thermal regulating system that is designed to sense the temperature in the surrounding area to automatically control the water temperature in water tanks. > GEMS Modern Academy Obstacle Detecting Instrument: Thirteen-year old Vishweshwar Eswaran designed a smart shoe called ODI to provide the visually-challenged to walk freely without tripping by emitting a sound when an object is detected in the path. > Cambridge International School Dubai Learn with Dido : Siblings Labib and Merna Khaldoun Tannous created 'Learn with Dido' an interactive educational 'click and play' game developed using Visual Basic targeting children aged three to six aimed at building and strengthening the Arabic language skill for both Arabs and non-Arabs. This programme is made for children by children. > GEMS Modern Academy Hydrophobia: School buddies Sanya Bansal Harshini Ramessh Saagarika Verma and Shreya Verma fashioned Hydrophobia a 'superhydrophobic coating' made from readily available and cheap materials which can repel water. So if you don't want to get wet in the rain make sure you're wearing something made of Hydrophobia. > Our Own English High School Fujairah Futuristic Energy Solution: Ahammed Yasin Ashwin Luke Aryan Dudhankar Junaid Jabir Priyansh Kothari and Tejal Jain are on a mission to solve the issues pollution and provide alternative energy resources. Their project is to create electrical energy from mechanical energy by using piezoelectric crystals and sensors to generate electricity from human locomotion. > GEMS Modern Academy Grener Irrigation : Mostafa Kamel Elie Dib and Isabella Malixi put the environment at the heart of their project. They created an innovative water-efficient irrigation system which utlitises a 'plug-and-play' moisture and nutrient sensor in the soil to activiate the irrigation system only when needed leading to high savings in water and energy consumption > GEMS International School Al Khail Stranded: Nicholas Rossiter Nico Nortje and Nour El Okda are pitching for an all-terrain hybrid vehicle loaded with medical supplies that can help stranded people especially in far-flung and deserted areas. > GEMS Modern Academy Mirror Magic : Kartik Kardar and Rithik Bhatia created something for the fashion-conscious. Mirror Magic augments the traditional sense of dressing up with your digital wardrobe information whilst looking at the IoT (internet of things)-enabled mirror. > The Millennium School AltAir : Arjun Bhorkar and Sara Ansari want to help in solving the rush-hour traffic in Dubai with their drone that can survey roads and detect the number of cars . AltAir is equipped with GPS and is also suited for data collection and analysis in hazardous or difficult areas to reach.