Ministry of Culture and Sports represented in Qatar Scientific Club is organizing Innovation and Challenge Forum under the slogan “With Mind, We Solve Problems” within the period from 6 to 11 November 2021 as part of activities of Doha, Capital of Culture in Islamic World 2021.
The slogan of the scientific competition (With Mind, We Solve Problems) confirms that the humanity has known the various sciences since ancient times. Books conveyed to us what the ancient Greeks wrote and what they presented in the field of sciences such as Archimedes, Euclid, Pythagoras and others. These books showed us monuments of the ancients and contributions of sciences of Romans, India and Persia.
When Islam came, it announced new civilized round that gave science its characterized position and opened avenues of discovery and creativity with thought and insight as verses of the Holy Qur’an called for reading, science and thinking as Almighty God said in the Holy Qur’an “Travel through the earth and see how Allah did originate creation; so will Allah produce a later creation: for Allah has power over all things.” (Spider-20)
The slogan of the forum confirms that Islam released and liberated faculties of creativity and innovation in human beings and the Islamic history through its various ears witnessed a scientific renaissance. Therefore, universities and libraries were built and medical, scientific, engineering and philosophical books were compiled until Muslim Scholars had a contribution and favor to human civilization. No one denies contributions of Al-Khwarizmi who established the four arithmetic processes and algebraic system. Also, the humanity cannot forget the attempts of Abbas Ibn Firnas to fly. Therefore, he inspired scholars or reflect on time without mentioning the favor of the wondrous clock that the Abbasid Caliph Harun Al-Rashid gave to Charlemagne in the second century (the ninth century AD, about the year 807).
The slogan reflects that as much as human civilizations has benefited from the contribution of Muslim Scholars, construction and innovation have continued as civilizations interact with each other and science is nourished by experiences of all human beings of different languages and cultures.
Through the accumulation of knowledge, man has been able to achieve many scientific regulations that have changed lifestyles and laid the foundations of progress in various fields as science has a direct impact on human life.
In this context, the scientific competition entitled (With Mind, We Solve Problems) comes in response to the aspirations of youth in the world to have a prominent role in the field of innovation and invention. The slogan expresses following the right way within science of tricks that means in Arabic books the science of mechanics which is the practical application of engineering. This science was called the science of tricks because the trick in Arabic language means the ability handle matters accurately and skillfulness in solving problems. Therefore, when it is said resourceful, it means skillful in getting out from dilemmas and managing matters. As about the problem, it means knots and it means ability to solve problems that the human face with correct mind and knowledge.
As the great scientific competition seeks to motivate young innovators and inventors to find solutions to problems facing their societies and work to facilitate life in them, it also works to spread scientific thought and the continuation of human adventure in the development of knowledge and building the future of human civilization.
Unique event
From this starting point, Innovation Challenge forum, the unique event in the region includes a number of competitions, events and interactive scientific programs that aim at motivating and encouraging youth in all segments of Qatari and International Society in this huge event based on the fact the peoples and nations always bet on youth considering it inspiring to social progress and is considered a fertile resource for new ideas in all fields.
The event will also include presentation of projects that reflect the role of research, development, science and innovation in achieving a knowledge-based economy that supports the achievement of Qatar National Vision 2030. The event will contribute to draw attention of the international community to learn more about the latest developments in the field of innovation, technology and modern technologies and it will save the opportunity to learn about the participation and achievements of youth. The event will include two main competitions (Innovations/Hackathons) to be held over a week with international participation in addition to offering individual and group competitions to develop talents and capabilities of youth in the field of invention, innovation and manufacturing.
The scientific competition entitled “With Mind, We Solve Problems” comes in response to the aspirations of youth in the world to play a prominent role in the field of innovation and invention and the slogan expresses following the right way using science of tricks that means in Arabic books the science of mechanics that is the practical application of engineering.
This science was called the science of tricks because the trick in Arabic language means the ability handle matters accurately and skillfulness in solving problems. Therefore, when it is said resourceful, it means skillful in getting out from dilemmas and managing matters. As about the problem, it means knots and it means ability to solve problems that the human face with correct mind and knowledge.
As the great scientific competition seeks to motivate young innovators and inventors to find solutions to problems facing their societies and work to facilitate life in them, it also works to spread scientific thought and the continuation of human adventure in the development of knowledge and building the future of human civilization.
The idea of the competition depends on participation of all innovators who are admitted to participate in this competition as their individual innovations are displayed during the particular exhibition in the first two days of the event and then the innovators themselves are divided to groups to participate in Hackathon group competition in the last two days of the event.
All competitions will be held during the four days that include events and accompanying exhibition to interactive intelligence devices in addition to workshops in order to attract youth and motivate them in the field of science and innovation and to highlight the event at the local and international level to leave impact on society.
International organizations and experts concerned with innovation in the field of the competition will be invited such as (WIPO-IFIA-GENEVA INTERNATIONAL EXPO JURY-IEEE-ROBOTIC EXPERT).
Periodical organization and continuity of this event as diverse and comprehensive festival of the latest developments in the field of science and technology enhances the position of the State of Qatar and its role in supporting and empowering creative and innovative youth at the regional and international levels.
The organizing committee of the forum established general terms and conditions for participation. They include that the age group should be 18 y ears and above for both sexes and the participant should have a scientific background and he should fulfill standards and conditions of the competitions. Also, the participant should abide by controls and procedures of the event that are approved by the organizing committee and attending the exhibition allocated to the competition.
The scientific club has established mechanism for registration and participation in competitions through the website of Qatar Scientific Club within the specified date and before closing the registration for the event. The selected participants will receive a confirmation of participation through their emails indicated in the registration form.
The term of the event will be one week provided that the innovation competition will be held in the first two days of the event and the Hackathon group competition will be held in the last two days of the event.
Registration of participants
Registration for the competition began on July 7 and will continue until August 30 through the website of the event that is cif.qa
Applications will be examined and sorted and the selection of the qualified participants will begin in early September and final list of participants will be approved and announced on September 15. Delegations will be received on November 5, 2021 and individual innovations will be prepared in the allocated exhibition on November 6 and the opening ceremony will be on November 7.
The innovation competition is scheduled to be held from November 6-8, 2021 while the Hackathon competition will be held from November 9-10, 2021 and the closing ceremony and announcement of the winners will be on November.
The forum is accompanied by various activities and exhibitions such as exhibition accompanying to the interactive intelligence devices, exhibition of the young innovators (a researcher and maker competition and projects of students of scientific excellence) and exhibition for technological companies to display the latest developments and innovative services offered in Qatar in addition to organizing some field visits for participants to learn about the State of Qatar and its cultural, heritage, sports and scientific landmarks.
Process and mechanisms of judging
The awarding committee depends on the international technical standards for competitions as it evaluates the performance of the teams as well as the participants in general in terms of their ability to manage the tasks related to all teams and achieve goals. Then, the committee will sort and order the winning candidates and sends names of the winters to the technical committee for approval. The Platinum medal (the first award) will be: from 91 to 100 points, the Golden medal will be from 80 to 90 points, the silver medal will be from 61 to 79 points, the bronze medal will be from 40 to 60 points.
In the innovations competition, the projects will be distributed according to classification and evaluation based on the approved criteria so that participants will receive medals (Platinum- Golden- Silver- Bronze) based on participating groups and financial awards (prizes) will be offered to the first ten winners (1-10).
As about Hackathon competition, the first group will be honored (6-10 groups at maximum).
First: Innovations Competition
Through the innovations competition, the innovators will be able to participate and present their innovative projects and inventions that reflect the role of research, development, science and innovation.
It is an individual competition held over two days during which projects will be presented in a special suite for each innovator. These innovations will be submitted to the awarding committee that works according to criteria and according to categories and specializations of the projects. In this competition, the participants will compete in various scientific fields covering all disciplines related to inventions.
This competition aims at enhancing awareness of the importance of innovation at the local and international levels, encouraging youth to innovate, discover and highlight their talents, providing a platform for youth to participate and compete in international exhibitions and choosing economically feasible innovations that can be supported and applied.
Special conditions of this competition are defined and they are represented in obtaining a patent or equivalent for the participating projects, submitting a brief about the project in three pages at minimum that includes an overview of the project and parts of it and the stage of the project in addition to a clear photographs of the project in addition to availability of a tangible model of the participating project.
Second: Hackathon Competition
It is a group competition through which a group of individuals who share the same scientific interests and skills meet to solve a problem or establish a scientific project from the stage of idea until the stage of the prototype within a specified period of time (48 hours) in laboratories and workshops of the scientific club.
Activities of this competition begin with introducing the event, its purpose and conditions of the competition and participants are divided into a number of teams and then the step of exchanging ideas and brainstorming and reviewing them in front of all regarding a product or an idea in the same context. Designers, technical specialists and entrepreneurs are provided to help tames accomplish their tasks and evaluate each stage. The teams must distribute the tasks to each participant according to the skills they have provided that the effort is exerted to complete the project on time.
The scientific club will provide all possibilities, devices and equipment necessary to assist innovators in implementing their collective inventions by allocating a workshop for each team to implement its idea.
The competition aims at introducing individuals to a segment of society with whom they share scientific interests to exchange experiences and information among themselves and this contributes to increasing cooperation between individuals and broadening horizons of exchange between researchers and innovators in addition to encouraging them to cope with a bright, innovative and feasible idea in addition to introducing youth to how to develop innovations starting from the idea until establishing a company and finally helping participants to learn concepts of entrepreneurship.
Special conditions have been set for this competition. They are ability to work in teams, implementing an innovative project within 48 hours, submitting innovative idea that is needed in one of the scientific fields, providing the economic feasibility of the project, providing engineering design, submitting the project prototype and submitting general report about the stages of the project.