Applications sought for WISE Awards ’20

The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) yesterday announced the opening of the 2020 WISE Awards call for applications, which, annually, sees the acknowledgement of six innovative projects that positively contribute to education and society.
The announcement came at the closing ceremony of WISE 2019, attended by Qatar Foundation Chairperson Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser and Vice Chairperson and CEO HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani.
The three-day conference drew a record attendance of more than 3,000 participants from 110 countries, including social entrepreneurs, innovators, educators, researchers, policy makers, and renowned artists. At the closing plenary, Stavros N Yiannouka, CEO, WISE announced the next WISE@ event to take place in Colombia, in Medellin and Bogota, in May 2020.
In the 10 years since its founding, WISE has established itself as a global reference in new approaches to education. The focus of the WISE Summit 2019 was to challenge conventional ways of thinking about education, and centred around the theme of ‘UnLearn, ReLearn: What it means to be Human’.
Topics covered over two days of plenaries, roundtables, workshops, and panel discussions ranged from youth identity in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, to increasing student engagement in learning, empowering youth through experiential learning, and migration and displacement in the Mena region. The event also saw the launch of Educate a Child’s Zero Strategy (children out-of-school).
The WISE Majlis, based on the traditional Arabic majlis gathering space, was one of the main features of the summit. The Hear my Story stage encouraged storytelling and candid input from the WISE Community and beyond, while Help me Solve It featured a series of quick brainstorming sessions. The hands-on learning labs and creative installations drew 820 pupils from schools around the country.
The Meet the Author sessions at the WISE Majlis was also the focal point for the authors of the eight WISE Research reports recently unveiled.
WISE 2019 closed with a special address by the 2019 WISE Prize for Education Laureate, Larry Rosenstock, CEO and Founding Principal of High Tech High (HTH). Rosenstock was recognised for his lifelong dedication to rethinking K-12 learning and tackling inequality through education.
He shared some of the innovative methods pioneered at HTH that have helped prepare thousands of students of all ability levels and socioeconomic backgrounds for higher education, citizenship, and a rewarding life of work.
Other speakers at the closing plenary were Jason Silva, Futurist, National Geographic; Steven Van Zandt, founder, Rock and Roll Forever Foundation; and Emtithal Mahmoud, poet and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador; as well as Yiannouka.