American University of Sharjah issued the following announcement on May 15.
An electrical engineering student from American University of Sharjah (AUS) and his team won first place at the Ministry of Energy EW X2071 competition held last month. His Excellency Dr. Matar Al Neyadi, the Undersecretary of the UAE Ministry of Energy, along with four expert judges, reviewed the final presentation before awarding the winning team the Global Innovation Certification by the Global Innovation Management Institute (GIMI).
Abdulrahman Mohammed, an electrical engineering student at AUS, and his team members – Rania Abu-Shakra, Senior Leadership Development and Succession Management Specialist at ENEC; and Maitha al Mazroei, Head of Sustainability in Dubai Municipality – were selected as part of the 50 finalists out of the 390 applicants who submitted projects to EWX2071.
During the program, the participants had to work in groups on an energy or water challenge and produce innovative ideas or prototypes. The teams were slowly shortlisted to three in the final round.
For six months, Mohammed and his team worked on its project entitled “Virtual marketplace for Peer to Peer Energy Sharing and Transactions.” The team was advised by Dr. Nasser Qaddoumi, Professor and Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering; and Dr. Mostafa Farouk Shaaban, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering.
Speaking about the competition, Mohammed said:
“The competition was about a virtual market place that enables peer to peer energy transactions and exchange between neighborhoods. It was a life experience that I enjoyed and learned a lot from. Innovation is key for any successful product or business and it is how we can take our country to higher levels. Learning how to innovate, and what innovation is and how it happens, opened my eyes to many hidden things I thought impossible.”
The EW X2071 Award was launched in November 2017 by the UAE Ministry of Energy to accelerate the development of innovative ideas and prototypes to improve energy and water targets to multiple times of the existing practices.
Original source: https://www.aus.edu/media/news/aus-student-wins-first-place-at-uae-ministry-of-energy-competition