DUBAI: The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (Moccae) is organising 11 activities across the country to mark the UAE Innovation Month in Feb. The announced activities are intended to  promote the culture of innovative environmental thinking in young people and to highlight the role of Moccae’s Innovation Committee.

Underlining the importance of the UAE Innovation Month, Eng. Aisha Al Abdooli, Moccae’s Chief Innovation Officer, said, “Following  the success of UAE Innovation Week 2015 and 2016, UAE Innovation Month was announced to celebrate innovation across the nation. It significantly contributes to strengthening the country’s position as a global hub for innovation.”

She stressed that Moccae pays utmost attention to fostering innovation among young people to ultimately create a widespread  culture of innovation. “Realizing future environmental sustainability goals relies heavily on the young people’s ability to provide out-of-the-box solutions.”

Within this context, Eng Al Abdooli added, the Ministry organised last Jan the Climate Innovation Exchange (CLIX), on the  sidelines of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, as a platform to connect young entrepreneurs and innovators with potential investors to forge business partnerships. The platform was a huge success, as participating investors expressed their intent to initially  invest $17.5million in the presented ideas within the first year, while the total investment value is expected to reach $45.5million within three years. 

She continued that around 11 innovation activities are being organized by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment across  the emirates in February to celebrate the month. Two of these activities are running consecutively across all emirates, for two days in every emirate. The first is the ‘e-Portrait of the Man of Environment’, which is an interactive activity where youngsters  color environmental-themed digital images on mini tablets. These images are later joined together to form a portrait of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The second is ‘1000 Ideas’, aimed at engaging all community members by encouraging them  to voice their ideas on how to reduce ecological footprint through a digital screen. Applicable, feasible ideas will be announced and considered for implementation by the end of the month.