Innovators from KSA Palestine wow jury

(MENAFN- Arab News)DOHA: Dynamic young innovators Hassan Albalawi of Saudi Arabia and Nadim Rifai of Palestine advanced in an intense elimination episode of Stars of Science Qatar Foundation for Education Science and Community Development's (QF) 'edutainment reality' TV program airing on MBC4.
Their triumph in the engineering stage came at the expense of fellow candidates Hazem Khaled of Egypt and Naouel Ayari of Tunisia who fell short in the eyes of the jury.
The program sees young innovators compete with each other to turn their creative ideas into reality and is part of QF's mission to encourage Arab youth to reach their potential while fostering and providing a platform to facilitate success.
Twelve candidates aged 18 to 30 from across the Arab world travel to Doha where they are mentored by world-class engineering and design specialists in the laboratories of Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) a member of Qatar Foundation. There the innovators take on challenges as they develop their ideas from a concept to a potential product.
In this first of three elimination rounds during the engineering stage the candidates presented their prototypes to an expert panel of jurors. The group with one computer scientist as well as one Master's and two doctoral students used its academic firepower to develop projects aimed to make life easier in vastly different ways.
Both Hazem and Hassan used advanced technology with innovative thinking to solve age-old problems. Hazem's Sign Language EMG Sleeve is designed to translate hand movements to words and sounds to ease communication for the deaf. Hassan's EEG Cap Analyzer uses sensors to measure and alert users to drowsiness.
Nadim's Rewarding Behavior Treadmill an app and sensor that integrates gameplay and incentives to make exercising on a treadmill more fun improves fitness by rewarding healthy behavior. Naouel's Learning Fridge is a creative rethinking of a familiar appliance. By monitoring the food in a user's fridge it recommends recipes compiles shopping lists and encourages efficient and healthy consumption.
Francois Gilardoni a prominent venture capitalist and scientist judged the candidates alongside veteran jurors Youssif Abdulrahman Al-Salhi general manager of Qatar Shell Research and Technology Center and Fouad Mrad executive director of the United Nations ESCWA regional technology center.
The trio assessed the candidates' projects from different angles and lent their expertise on a number of issues.