• Government and Business entities set to collaborate at MEED’s inaugural Innovation Live! Summit – an anchor event during UAE Innovation Week, held on 21st November 2016 at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai  
• MEED hosts a series of 28 ‘Watercooler Challenge’ focus groups as part of the Initiative for industry leaders to discuss innovative solutions to challenges in the sectors of sustainable energy, smart cities, education, healthcare, transportation, industrial diversification and start-ups

Dubai, UAE, August 27, 2016:  MEED announced today the inauguration of Innovation Live!, the  first initiative of its kind designed to converge government and business innovation ideologies and subsequently find solutions in the sustainable energy, smart cities, education, healthcare, transport and industrial diversification sectors.  The Innovation Live! Summit, the focal event of the initiative, will be an anchor event in the nationwide celebrated UAE innovation Week. 

MEED has collaborated with influential and leading organisations including Masdar Institute, Smart Dubai, Honeywell, Federal Transport Authority, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, DAFZA, Hitachi, Current by GE and many more to host innovation focussed brainstorming sessions culminating in the official Innovation Live! Summit on 21st November 2016.

The sector-focussed sessions, also termed as “Watercooler Challenges” are designed to ensure that the Innovation Live! Initiative works in line with the government’s key focus sectors and will deliver a packed and stimulating programme for the 600+ selected senior attendees. The programme has been curated with 34 advisory board members from the government and private sector. 

These Watercooler Challenge sessions are hosted in line with the government’s strategy and will be hosted from August to November 2016, across the UAE and have been streamed into seven sector groups including: sustainable energy, smart cities, healthcare, transportation, education, industrial diversification and start-ups. 

Each curated focus group consists of government, semi government and private organisations. These groups will meet monthly, challenge the barriers to innovation and develop implementation plans in key sectors to reach the end goal of presenting the findings in a White Paper to the government of Dubai in December 2016. 

As the UAE has already laid out the UAE Innovation Strategy and it’s Vision 2021, it aims to enter the Top 10 cities on the Global Innovation Index (GII). The core of the GII Report consists of a ranking of world economies’ innovation capabilities co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, an agency of the United Nations). 

Taking the UAE’s ambitious goal into consideration, the summit takes place at the most crucial of times. Richard Breeden, Chief Executive Officer at MEED comments, saying: “Meeting the needs of a rapidly-growing market in a low oil-price era requires policymakers and companies to embrace new thinking, dynamic collaborations and the latest disruptions tech to make the Middle East a better place to live and work.”

“MEED created this initiative along with the Advisory Board to support the government’s mission in innovation. Our expertise across multiple business sectors places us in a unique position to engage stakeholders in the government and private sectors in identifying and solving the key pain points and opportunities in a rapidly advancing field.” he continued. 

The summit will feature a line-up of trail-blazing international and regional speakers at the inspiration stage with keynotes, TED-style talks, panel sessions and hard talks and a dynamic Government to Business (G2B) and Business to Business (B2B) Innovation Experience Zone. It will cover cutting-edge concepts; including design thinking, digital innovation, collaboration and co-creation, futuristic technologies, sustainability and leadership. 

UAE Innovation Week is one of the largest innovation initiatives in the world, and a consolidated effort by government, the private sector and individuals to help create a widespread culture of innovation in the UAE and strengthen its position as a global hub for innovation.

Innovation Live! is sponsored by Hitachi (Social Innovation Partner), Honeywell (Platinum Sponsor), Current, powered by GE (Emerald Sponsor) and DAFZA (Strategic Partner).