King Abdullah II Fund for Development sponsoring "Made in Jordan" competition

The competition aims at extracting innovations from Jordanian universities, and researchers focusing on graduate and postgraduate research projects and theses, towards developing industrial or software prototypes that will solve challenges and problems for different industries in Jordan and the region.

Winning prototypes will receive cash awards and in-kind that aims to commercialize and introduce them to the global market as products with high value. The tentative registration for the competition started in July and will end by August 23, 2008. QRCE will promote this competition among its target audience through seminars conducted at universities and public venues around Jordan.

Noteworthy, the KAFD is sponsoring "Made in Jordan Competition" (MIJC) to supplement the efforts in supporting innovation and excellence. The Fund provides annual funding for research and development projects prepared by Jordanian university students as a mean of supporting creative and talented students from universities. This creates a conducive environment that gives them the possibilities to capture their intellectual wealth, and translate it into tangible economic value that support the sustainable development process. Up-to-date, the KAFD has supported 90 Graduation projects, benefiting 300 students from various Jordanian universities.

This national competition is part of 'Made in the Arab World' competition, organized by Arab Science and technology Foundation (ASTF), where the winners of MIJC will compete with their peers from more than ten Arab countries. The MIJC is one of several major event organized by QRCE under the umbrella of the Technology Commercialization Program (TCP). TCP aims at increasing the awareness of researchers and innovators about the economical value of their intellectual properties (IP) and protecting them nationally and internationally.

The TCP manager, Mr. Hussein Natsheh highlighted on the goal of the competition saying:

"MIJC is a pilot program that aims to support the Industry-University Linkage (IUL) in Jordan since it is required from participants to find sponsors from the industry for each and every project submitted. The project sponsor has to offer financial and/or technical support for the students and researcher behind the project."

Natsheh said, "This will develop the entrepreneurial and the technical skills of the participating teams through a comprehensive training package and will also increase the awareness of potential opportunities in Jordanian technology startups."

The MIJC has main categories: graduation projects of undergraduate students in their final year, university and research staff (Diploma, Master, PhD & researchers from public research centers), and finally professionals participating as individuals, with a condition of not being funded from their employers. The competing fields for this year are: automotive technology, communications & networking, computer engineering, electronics information technology & software engineering, materials science/chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, petroleum geology & engineering, power engineering, renewable energy sources/green technologies, robotics & automation technology and water desalination.