Dubai Quality Group launches the Ideas.Arabia 2nd International Conference

Held under the patronage of H.H. Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Emirates Group and President of the Dubai Department of Civil Aviation, the three-day event, which is being organized in partnership with Dubai Aluminium Company Limited (DUBAL) will showcase lectures by internationally renowned speakers, Idea of the Year Competition 2007, opportunity to share best practice and tips on how to tap and gain from employee involvement.

Organized with the theme 'Innovation: Make it Happen', the event has gathered prominent benefactors led by Platinum sponsors Dubai World, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) and Dubai Health Care City (DHCC). The Gold sponsors include Dubai Municipality, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Dubai Properties, the Kanoo Group, Department of Health & Medical Services (DOHMS) and Nakheel Travel, while the Silver sponsors are Oman Insurance, Dubai Air Port Free Zone Authority (DAFZA), Department of Tourism & Commercial Marketing (DTCM), Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Jumeirah International.

"Dubai Quality Group is excited to see the extraordinary growth of the Ideas.Arabia Conference, and we have attracted some of the biggest industry names as sponsors in only our second year. We are delighted at the support these companies have extended to the Ideas.Arabia Conference and we look forward to maintaining our partnerships with them through the years,"

said Marwan Sawaleh, Chairman, DQG.

"The Ideas.Arabia 2nd international conference will kick off with a one-day workshop entitled "Suggestion Scheme Evaluator Training", which will cover each area of traditional suggestion evaluation including roles and responsibilities, eligibility considerations, determination of benefits and appropriate communication methods. An interactive module will then be used to determine innovative approaches to each of these items. The workshop will be followed by two days of presentation sessions conducted by experts from different countries and organizations", said Abdulqader Obaid Ali, Chairman, Ideas.Arabia.

"The activities have been designed to show how participants can incorporate best practices in suggestion evaluation in their own organizations. This will ultimately help them reduce evaluation time, minimize evaluation costs and increase the effectiveness of the process, benefiting both the employees and the evaluators," added Obaid Ali.

The "Idea of the Year" competition will hand out awards in different categories, including the Idea Of The Year, which recognizes the workplace idea that is adjudged the best in all areas. The other categories are technology, productivity, customer services, environmental, health and safety and financial. All ideas entered in the competition should have been implemented in 2006 and have resulted to significant benefits for the organization.

The Three-day conference, concluding on April 24, will feature workshops, and discussions with prominent local and international scholars and performers of "Employee Suggestion Scheme" (ESS), in addition to participants of the ESS who have successfully achieved a 100% staff involvement in their organisations.

"Aside from providing a venue to recognize the innovative ideas of employees, the competition also serves as an excellent motivating tool for the employees to bring out their creative imagination. Additionally, the competition allows companies to measure up their practices to the accepted standards," concluded Sawaleh.