The third edition of the Arab Innovation Academy (AIA), a collaboration between Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) and the European Innovation Academy (EIA), has concluded with an intensive day of pitching by 30 teams, followed by a graduation ceremony at QSTP.
Three winners emerged from the 10 teams that were shortlisted during the programme. To mark 2020 as the Qatar-France Year of Culture, a student delegation of 10 students from France also participated for the first time in the programme.
Salamtak, a company that developed an online system for the management of chronic diseases, like diabetes and hypertension, and provides both patients and healthcare professionals with a real-time interface to monitor vital data, won the first place. Landing in second place is Hamza, which developed a programme that assists with Arabic writing, automatically correcting grammatical errors, similar to Grammarly in English. The third place went to Go Star, which developed a platform for parents to create gamified daily life tasks for children, such as cleaning their room or feeding the pet.
Salamtak chief business officer Mohamed al-Mukdad, a Syrian living in Qatar, said: “I feel amazing. It has been 10 challenging days, but it has been a great experience with wonderful people from around the world. We intend to find investment and start building this platform in Qatar.”
A number of teams won special awards, including Doctorle, a consultation service for diabetic patients that provides them with guidance in managing their lifestyles. The Doctorle team will get a chance to showcase their innovation at the upcoming edition of the World Innovation Summit for Health.
The LimPap team was also recognised for their innovation that aims to produce paper by using completely sustainable sources instead of paper. The team will get an expedited interview with XLR8-QSTP’s flagship accelerator programme.
At the beginning of the programme, 190 university students had convened from all over the pan-Arab region to start this year’s Arab Innovation Academy (AIA) programme. Hayfa al-Abdulla, QSTP Innovation director, said: “The AIA is one of the most successful platforms for promoting Qatari homegrown talent, as well as regional capacities, and fostering innovative ideas.
Alar Kolk, president, EIA, said: “The intensive programme has given them a solid foundation to successfully launch their tech startups and realise their business ambitions, and they are assured of a wide network of support to do so.”
More information about the AIA and a complete list of winners is available on aia.inacademy.eu.
The participants of this year’s Arab Innovation Academy with their coaches and mentors.
