DEWA invites public to Innovation Week on 20-24 November 2016

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has invited its customers, partners, and the public to take part in its Innovation Week activities, taking place from 20-24 November 2016. DEWA’s Innovation Week coincides with the 2nd UAE Innovation Week, which is organised annually in adherence to the directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to celebrate innovators in the UAE.

DEWA’s Innovation Week activities take place in its head office in Zabeel East. It features several activities including the Innovation & Future Exhibition, which highlights future innovations related to electricity and water and is organised by Trend One. DEWA’s 6th Innovation and the Future Conference will be held on Thursday, 24 November. International experts will discuss innovation in sustainability, renewable energy, and water.

“Thanks to the directives of our wise leadership, the UAE has become one of the pioneering countries in innovation. Government innovation has become an organisational activity, a corporate culture, and a solid government and social culture. DEWA is committed to introducing its customers, partners, and stakeholders to the latest energy and water innovations. This motivates innovation, and promotes it as a daily practice in society,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA.

“The various activities during DEWA’s Innovation Week promote and encourage innovation as a key driver for development across all areas of work. This is particularly true in service provision, project implementation, increasing efficiency of procedures, and keeping pace with the rapid technological developments. Innovation also enhances the role of Emiratis in generating creative ideas that contribute to finding innovative ways to provide services that achieve customer happiness. The Innovation Week is also an opportunity to show DEWA’s achievements in innovation, and develop the creative and innovative capabilities of its staff,” added Al Tayer.

Other activities of DEWA’s Innovation Week include a competition that encourages students to design, build, test and race solar-powered remote-controlled cars. The competition promotes the Shams Dubai initiative and encourages learning about clean energy. This is done by engaging young people in an interactive manner, enhancing DEWA’s position as a forward-thinking supporter of innovation and sustainability. The results of the Shams Dubai Solar Rollers will be announced in Q1 2017.

Innovation Week also includes the Hackathon challenge and Robotics Competition, where programmers collaboratively code over a short period of time.

DEWA will also announce the candidates to participate in the DEWA Future Utility Cup, which is a first-of-its-kind global start-up competition. It is the result of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between DEWA and the global start-up incubator 1776, to accelerate innovation in energy. It will tap into 1776’s extensive network of over 3,000 start-ups that have participated in the 1776 Challenge Cup in 2015 and 2016.

Another of DEWA’s creativity and innovation initiatives is its Innovators Series, which is a project that recognises the creative minds in DEWA, and inspires others to innovate. The inspirational campaign began across a number of social media platforms prior to Innovation Week, to reach a large number of audience.

A campaign also ran through internal communications channels to inform DEWA staff about the Innovation Week initiatives. Other activities include launching video tutorials about Creativity Tools, on the Ebtikari platform, which encourages inventors and designers from around the world to present their innovations using a smart platform. This includes scientific and engineering competitions for inventors, scientists, university students, and engineers to present solutions and innovations in sustainable energy, water, and other fields related to DEWA’s work. Ebtikari platform is available on DEWA’s intranet and mobile devices. DEWA staff can also use the platform through DEWA’s Smart Office app to present their ideas and add attachments and documents from anywhere outside of DEWA. Smart Office provides DEWA’s employees a seamless experience when completing their tasks, to achieve their happiness.