UAE Innovation Month Aims To Invigorate The Country's Trailblazers With the UAE Innovation Month coming up in February 2018, here are a few events and competitions entrepreneurs can watch out for.

Organized by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation (MBRCGI), the UAE Innovation Month seeks to foster innovation with more than 1,000 activities across the nation from February 1-28, 2018. From parks displaying creative inventions throughout various cities, to a Google Innovation Hub launch, and more, the month-long initiative will hold key events and competitions to showcase leading ideas and innovators across the UAE. As part of the Year of Zayed, the initiative was also inspired by the leadership of UAE's founder, H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

On the initiative's launch, H.E. Huda Al Hashimi, Assistant Director General for Strategy and Innovation at the UAE Prime Minister's Office asserts that owing to the momentum of the previous years' innovation-themed week, this year, it was extended to a whole month to give people more time to visit and interact with activities. As the event is also held to support the National Innovation Strategy, H.E. Al Hashimi comments, "The UAE Innovation Strategy clearly defines seven main sectors for innovation: space, transportation, water, renewable energy, technology, health and education- so all of these main sectors are to be key players in this." She adds that there would be a particular focus on AI, with efforts to bring in the involvement of the youth, as well as how private sector, whether multinationals and SMEs would have their own platforms too.

H.E. Al Hashimi specifies that each Emirate will have its own program, with an Innovation Truck following the route, which will be at main gatherings in each Emirate. What should "treps look out for? Students and tech professionals alike can join the UAE Hackathon, a nationwide competition, held in partnership with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, which aims to use open data to improve UAE's economic growth.

In Abu Dhabi, there would be an Innovation Lab competition, which will be announced by H.E. Noura Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development. In Ras Al Khaimah, the Seaside Startup Summit will be held, welcoming entrepreneurs from across the world, as well across the GCC. Fujairah will be holding the Innovation Race, a competition aimed at finding ideas to improve local government services, open to residents of the city, and with a winning prize of AED 20,000 for first place, AED 15,000 for second place, and AED 10,000 for third place. Ajman would be holding a series of workshops on programming and robotics.

Whereas in Dubai, the Aero Innovation Summit 2018 invites professional and entrepreneurs to focus on issues, and prominent concepts and products in the aviation sector, while Finnovate brings together Middle East's fintech community to highlight challenges and opportunities in the sector.

For more information on the activities, visit the website: www.uaeinnovates.ae

UAE Innovation Month Timeline

Abu Dhabi February 1-7
Ras Al Khaimah February 8-14
Fujairah February 8-14
Sharjah February 15-21
Ajman February 15-21
Umm Al Quwain February 15-21
Dubai February 21-28

Related: Dubai International Innovation Show Aims To Be A Platform For Change Makers