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On Thursday, February 4, the Judging Committee will evaluate live performances of 20 teams who have qualified to the semi-final stage, out of a total of 1017 applicants from 165 countries. Based on the evaluations during this stage, qualifiers will be selected for the final stage of the competitions.
The UAE Drones for Good Award is the largest award of its kind, offering a total prize money of AED 4.67 million (US$ 1 million for the International Competition winner, and AED 1 million for the National Competition winner). The winners for the award will be announced on Saturday, February 6.
Saif Al Aleeli, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Museum of the Future Foundation and Coordinator General of the UAE Drones for Good Award, said: “Aiming to promote the UAE's global position as a leading centre for the drones technology sector and to employ the best practices to improve the services provided to the society, the Organizing Committee of the UAE Drones for Good Award has selected a group of prominent experts from this sector in the UAE and other countries to form the Judging Committee of the award.”
Al Aleeli said the award has become a global platform to showcase the latest innovative ideas for innovators, manufacturers and investors in the drones sector, which will see investments worth billions of dollars during the next five years. It also provides an ideal opportunity for investors, innovation incubators, entrepreneurs and tech companies involved in the sector to partner with government entities, companies, academic institutions and organizations at the local and global level.
Prominent international experts
The Judging Committee of the UAE Drones for Good Award includes several prominent international experts such as Farouk El-Baz, Research Professor and Director of the Center for Remote Sensing, Boston University, known for his pioneering work in the applications of space images to ground-water exploration in Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Oman and the UAE; Dr. Eesa Bastaki, President of Dubai University and former CEO of ICT Fund; Patrick Meier, a global entrepreneur and founder of Humanitarian UAV Network in 2013 to enable the safe, responsible and effective use of UAVs in wide range of humanitarian and development settings; and Manahel Thabet, Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine & President of World IQ Foundation, who is ranked among the 30 Smartest People Alive by SuperScholar, and is a Brain of the Year Award laureate for 2015-2016.
Other prominent international experts include Jason N G, Chief Scientist and iCampus/Smart City Lead at Etisalat BT Innovation Centre, BT Innovate and Design; Lian Pin Koh, Founding Director of the non-profit ConservationDrones.org; Phillip Hall, Adjunct Professor, School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering at The University of Western Australia; Nikolaos Mavridis, Director of Interactive Robots and Media Lab and Researcher, NCSR Demokritos; Ronald Arkin, Regents’ Professor and Director of the Mobile Robot Laboratory; Rich Goldman, Chancellor of Global University of Engineering; Carole Van Caillie, International Operations, Indra, and Research and Innovation Independent Expert at European Commission; and M O Jamshidi, Lutcher Brown Endowed Distinguished Chaired Professor at the University of Texas.
The Judging Panel also includes Fatma Taher, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department at Khalifa University; Manar Abu Talib from the University of Sharjah; Sara Amiri, Program Manager, Advanced Systems, Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre; and Mohsen Al Awadhi, Lead Mission Systems Engineer at Emirates Mars Mission.
The list also includes Nazih Khaddaj Mallat, Assistant Professor at College of Engineering and Information Technology, Al Ain University; Ahmed M. Darwish, IEEE Egypt Section Chair; Jorge Dias, Full Professor in Electrical Engineering and Researcher from Robotics Institute from Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi; Khaled Letaief, Dean of HKUST School of Engineering; and Adnan Al Rais, Engineer at Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre.
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