Dubai Future Foundation and EmTech MENA have announced the committee of judges for “Innovators Under 35” in its second year. The winners will present at EmTech MENA 2019 conference in Dubai, which will be held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai and chairman of the executive council, in cooperation with Dubai Future Foundation.
Abdul Aziz Al-Jaziri, deputy CEO and COO of Dubai Future Foundation, said: “Organizing this global event in Dubai attracts talents from key future sectors, supports innovation and emerging technologies and allows Arab talents the opportunity to showcase their innovative ideas to international companies and government entities.
“This initiative is a global platform that aims at shedding light on successes achieved by young Arab innovators in developing emerging technologies, their ability to cope with rapid changes, and contribute positively to the global civilization.”
The committee includes: Huda Al-Hashimi, assistant to the director-general for strategy and innovation at the prime minister’s office, UAE; Majed Al-Suwaidi, managing director of Dubai Media City, Dubai Studio City and Dubai Production City; Mansoor Al-Awar, chancellor of Hamdan Bin Mohamed Smart University; Razan Al-Mubarak, managing director of Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi; Abdul Aziz Al-Jaziri, deputy CEO and COO of Dubai Future Foundation; Bashar Kilani, regional executive, Gulf countries & Levant, IBM Middle East; Dr. Alawi Alsheikh-Ali, dean of the faculty of medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University for Medicine and Health Sciences; and Dr. Maryam Matar, founder and chairperson, UAE Genetic Diseases Association.
This year’s judges also include: Abdulsalam Haykal, CEO of Haykal; Ossama Hassanein, chairman of Rising Tide Fund; Ziad Sultan, product lead of Google News; Habib Haddad, managing director of E14 Fund; Hassan Sawaf, director of artificial intelligence at Amazon Web Services; Rania Khalaf, director of IBM Research AI, Cambridge MA; Sharif El-Badawi, partner, 500 Startups and chairman, TechWadi; Shahd Attar, principal director at Accenture; Adil Al-Zarooni, CEO of Al-Zarooni Emirates Investments; Abdulrahman Al-Jadhai, CEO of Elm; Abdo George Kadifa, managing director at Sumeru Equity Partners; Fadel Adib, founding director at Signal Kinetics Research Group and assistant professor, MIT; Fatimah Alhamlan, scientist, research center at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and assistant professor at Alfaisal University; Lamya Al-Haj, assistant professor at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.
Additional judges include: Mohammad Hajjiri, interventional electrophysiologist, member of board of trustees, KHCF-USA; Mohamed Qasem, assistant professor in electronic engineering and consultant to the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences; Latifa M. Alabdulkarim, AI adviser, MCIT; Moataz Al-Nozhi, dean of computer science, computational and electrical engineering, KAUST; Malak Abed Al-Thagafi, chairperson of Genomics Research Department — Saudi Human Genome Lab site, KACST-KFMC and medical director, Saudi Diagnostic Lab, KFSHI; Nabeel Koshak, CEO, Saudi Venture Capital Company; Nizar Habash, associate professor of computer science, New York University Abu Dhabi; Nidhal Guessoum, professor at the American University of Sharjah, UAE; and Hani Enaya, partner, STV; Hala Hanna, director-general of the Solve Community, an MIT initiative; and Hala Qanadilo, senior director of operations, Pfizer Inflammation and Immunology covering North America and international developed markets.
