Youth from science, business fields work together to solve water problems

Innovative youths with scientific skills and entrepreneurial business mindsets worked together to find solutions for major regional challenges in the First Sci-preneurship Competition, which was held recently.

Organised by Intel and INJAZ Al Arab, the competition aimed to strengthen and connect the importance of science with youth entrepreneurship in the MENA region.

“This opportunity provided students with the chance to think outside the box, encouraged unconventional skills that may not always be acquired in the classroom and helped them come up with commercially viable solutions,” Soraya Salti, CEO of INJAZ Al Arab, said at the competition’s closing ceremony last week.

Participants from Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Morocco were assigned to create a product or provide a service that can help in solving the water problem in less than 24 hours.

Students were introduced to issues of water shortage, water treatment and worldwide challenges of securing clean and enough water.

“Every year, the challenge of the competition will differ in order to create small- and medium-sized enterprises that work to provide solutions for pertinent issues,” Salti told The Jordan Times at the award ceremony.

Ferruh Gurtas, corporate affairs director of Intel Middle East, Turkey and Africa, asserted that young people need to create their own future since governments cannot provide job opportunities for all citizens.

“One of the most important solutions for unemployment is that youths create sustainable jobs for themselves that are based on innovation, where they can make a change,” he told The Jordan Times.

As a member of the competition’s jury, Gurtas commended the solutions offered by the young contestants.

“The provided solutions include some valid scientific methods such as using WiFi, mirrors and chemicals,” he said.

Participating students were divided into teams based on their home countries; each team consisting of three INJAZ and Intel alumni.

According to the jury, the Lebanese team got the highest scores based on their business plan, innovation, quality of presenting their product and their team spirit.

Oudey Hamadeh, a member of the Lebanese team said the competition was an eye-opener for him on the need to manage the use of water resources.

“The service our group provided was to reuse distilled water from air conditioners… According to the research we did, this water is completely safe to be used in watering plants,” he told The Jordan Times.

The Lebanese team will now seek to develop their project further and provide their service worldwide.

“We are willing to start in the Gulf market, as it has the highest use of air conditioners, then we will globalise our service,” said Hamadeh, an international business student at the Lebanese American University.

“This two-day competition taught us how to reach common ground with other different mindsets, and how to work under pressure with a team… We are extremely happy with the trophy,” he said.

The Jordanian team focused on using solar energy in water distillation without the need for elaborate infrastructure.

“It was a great opportunity to get different perspectives of students in the science field along with those in business,” noted Haitham Sweiti, a member of the Jordanian team.

“We learned how to start a business and how to pitch an idea to an audience and to investors,” he said.

As a fresh graduate in electrical engineering, Sweiti is “willing to implement this project in Jordan”.

The Egyptian team wanted to solve problems related to dirty water in Dumyat as their case study.

According to Abdullah Menoufy, a member of the team, water distillation stations in Dumyat do not function properly, so people drink unclean water with a high percentage of salt and organic particles, which causes deaths every year.

“Our product is a device that has three filters; first there is an osmosis layer that balances the concentration of salt, then there is a sulphur layer that reacts with sodium to form sediments, and finally an activated carbonate absorption unit to eliminate any remaining unnecessary particles,” Menoufy explained.