Yaman Abou Jieb celebrates after emerging victorious in the live finale of ‘Stars of Science’ in Doha last night, as other finalists look on.
Yaman Abou Jieb, a young innovator from Syria, emerged victorious in the live finale of Stars of Science last night in Doha, concluding the seventh season of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development’s (QF) “edutainment reality” TV programme on MBC4.
Voting from viewers around the Arab world, combined with a jury deliberation garnered Jieb a score of 37.2%, enough for him to win the first prize of $300,000 for his solar washing machine, Glean.
Launched in 2009, Stars of Science is dedicated to scientific innovation, and aims to shine a spotlight on the next generation of young Arab innovators.
Omar Hamid, inventor of the prayer chair, Sanda, came in second place with a combined score of 23.1%, earning $150,000.
Saudi Arabia’s Hassan al-Balawi, came in third with a score of 20.4% with his EEG cap analyser, Wakecap, and won $100,000, while with his ECG stress analyser, Digiheart, Mohamed Mourad Benosman, from Algeria, came in fourth place with a score of 19.3% and took home $50,000.
Jieb observed that by connecting young innovators like him with resources and expertise, Qatar Foundation generates interest in science, engineering and design in the Arab world.
“Going forward, I will be driven not only to develop Glean, but to give youth across the region confidence in their abilities to improve lives through innovation.”
Stars of Science will return in 2016 with Season 8, accepting applicants between the ages of 18-35. Special emphasis will be placed on finding promising project ideas that contribute to resolving the sustainable development challenges in the Arab countries and ensuring that their inventions are beneficial to their communities and have an impact regionally and globally. Computing and information technology, energy, environment, health and biomedical sciences are among the focus areas. The programme will also diversify the prizes for the finalists to include both cash and grants for product development, such as incubation. The total value of the prizes for finalists will increase to $1,000,000.
Online applications for entering Stars of Science Season 8 will close on January 30, 2016. Aspiring candidates from around the region should apply via the official Stars of Science website: www.starsofscience.com
