Zayed University students embark on an innovation journey
November 04, 2015
In line with the declaration of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan that 2015 is the ‘Year of Innovation’ in the UAE, and the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the Student Affairs Department at Zayed University (ZU) has organized a workshop on innovation that was held at Abu Dhabi campus.
Organized by Loqya Club, over 200 participants attended the one-day workshop, which came as a major step aimed at inspiring young Emirati students, empowering them and enabling their success.
“ZU has always been committed to nurturing innovation through engaging its students in national initiatives to polish their skills, gain professional experience and create ground-breaking and creative projects that can provide wide and lasting benefits to the local community,” Shamsa Al Taie, Director of Students Affairs at Zayed University, said.
The workshop came as a part of series of activities and seminars held to celebrate and mark the UAE Innovation Week at Zayed University.
Hussein Sabry, Assistant Professor at the Institute for Islamic World Studies, gave a presentation on the skills required for students to become innovators. The workshop was an eye-catcher for most of the attendees, who learned how to set realistic goals, think critically, ask effective questions, and overcome creativity and innovation barriers.
“Individuals and educational institutions should welcome change and innovation. The ideal environment can help feed their innovation. The goal of innovation is to understand, resolve, change, and add a value and it will not be accomplished without deep knowledge, flexibility, accuracy, contemplation and strong determination,” Professor Sabry, who is a professional certified trainer in the Neuri-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and CoRT Thinking, said.
Professor Sabry also pointed out that creative individuals will always face some challenges or might be discouraged by some dream thieves, who can negatively impact their confidence and willingness to try new things and initiate extraordinary ideas.
“However, those who decide to move forward, achieve dreams and forget past failures, they succeed and innovate revolutionary ideas,” he added.
As part of the UAE Innovation Week, Zayed University has scheduled several activities that will include competitions, workshops and launch of national initiatives for innovation throughout the UAE.
