HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser attending the closing ceremony of WISE 2013. PICTURE: AR al-Baker/HHOPL Right:   Dr Sheikh Abdulla bin Ali al-Thani speaking at the closing ceremony of the three-day WISE Summit.

By Joseph Varghese/Staff Reporter


World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) will launch an innovation fund to foster innovators and entrepreneurs in education. The next edition of  the WISE summit will be held from November 4-6, 2014.
These announcements were  made yesterday by HE Dr Sheikh Abdulla bin Ali al-Thani, chairman of WISE in the presence of HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of Qatar Foundation, during the closing ceremony of the three-day WISE Summit held at Qatar National Convention Centre.
Giving the details of the fund, Dr Abdulla said: “WISE will launch an innovation fund to foster educational innovators and entrepreneurs. The fund will provide financial assistance as well as expertise and training to help them translate their ideas into actions. It will initially be supported by Banco Santander (Bank of Santander) and I invite other organisations to join us.”
Dr Abdulla also said that WISE would further develop the online portal. “The portal will disseminate more content and data. The portal will  offer more collaborative tools along for the WISE community to share ideas and build new partnerships.”
He added that WISE will also share information and knowledge through traditional media. “The next WISE book will explore the link between technology and learning. It will investigate how connected societies are transforming education. It will be published early next year.”
He said that WISE would continue to expand its advocacy for educational programmes. “WISE will introduce a channel on YouTube. Along with our learning programmes, we are introducing a channel on YouTube to showcase selected projects and feature best moments of WISE Summit.”
Dr Abdulla said that the WISE Learners’ Voice Programme will be further enhanced. He explained: “It will be done through a year-long leadership development programme. The learners will also continue to provide the voice for the youth in a variety of international forums and will continue to reach out to segments of the WISE community through customised events tailored to their needs.”
There was also a closing plenary session with  Angélique Kidjo, singer, songwriter and activist from Benin,  Fazle Hasan Abed, 2011 WISE Prize for Education Laureate and founder and chairman of Bangladesh based NGO, BRAC and Fatema Akbar, a WISE Learner’s Voice Programme participant. The panel discussed the efforts to connect education with life and life with education.
Vicky Colbert the 2013 WISE Prize for Education Laureate also officially addressed the gathering before the closing session, in which she said: “Winning the WISE Prize for Education provided a profound  feeling of accomplishment. Everybody can be a change maker. The theme of this year’s WISE Summit, resonates with what I and the people around me have been trying to achieve. ‘Reinventing Education for Life’ means reaching the greatest number of learners and making each learner a better person.”
The 2013 WISE Summit  also saw the launch of the application period for the 2014 WISE  Awards that will select six innovative educational projects for their positive contribution to education and society. Applications are invited from October 29, 2013 to January 15, 2014.



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