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Mohamed al-Housani of Qatar and Khaled al-Sulaim of Saudi Arabia have advanced to the next level of the “Stars of Science Season 6” after successfully defending their innovative ideas from the scrutiny of the jury. |
The two contestants passed through the pressure-filled elimination episodes and moved to the Design stage of the show.
The “Stars of Science Season 6” is an initiative of Qatar Foundation aired on MBC4. It is the first pan-Arab reality TV programme dedicated to scientific innovation.
Al-Housani garnered 93 of 100 points to take the first place followed by al-Sulaim with 71.7 points. The strength their prototypes had convinced the jury to advance them into the next phase.
Two other contestants, Weam Mohamed of Sudan and Johnny Khalil of Lebanon failed to convince the jury to keep them in the competition despite their projects showed a lot of potential.
Al-Housani’s efficient solar energy system, al-Sulaim’s phone-to-phone charger, and Khalil’s active rugby scrum machine were geared towards adapting and integrating existing technologies to practical innovative solutions.
Weam’s non-invasive malaria tester was described as a novel scientific concept with potentially revolutionising today’s practice and aims to make a significant impact in the health sector.
The idea attracted huge interest from VIP jury member Suneet Singh Tuli due to its potential to improve the diagnosis of the disease that will save more lives.
However, the testing results of both Khalil and Weam’s projects proved to be their weakness and the reason for their elimination.
“Arab youth can innovate and create breakthroughs today as easily as anybody else anywhere in the world if they are willing to dream big enough and pursue those dreams,” said Tuli, also the co-founder and CEO of DataWind. He designed the world’s most affordable tablet computer to increase access to computing and the Internet.
The judging criteria were based on the performance of each candidate’s prototype (50 points), the product’s outlook (30 points), and the resourcefulness and leadership shown by the candidate (20 points).
The concept of the show is to find and empower the next generation of Arab innovators through a competition in which candidates develop a novel project from concept to a potential product.
Over the first five seasons, a total of 28,000 Arabs around the region were inspired to submit their inventions to “Stars of Science.”
The experts examining the candidates and their projects included perennial jurors Youssif Abdulrahman al-Salhi, general manager of Qatar Shell Research and Technology Center and Dr. Fouad Mrad, executive director of the United Nations ESCWA regional technology center. Tuli will be the juror for the engineering stage.
“I believe that Stars of Science will help create a cultural shift by providing support and motivation to young innovators. This in turn will contribute to the development and growth of the Arab world as a whole,” said Tuli.
On the next prime time episode on October 18 at 8pm Qatar time/5pm GMT on MBC4, viewers will see four more candidates put their prototypes to the test in an effort to progress to the next stage.
