Abdali announces winners of 'Abdali Innovation Award' 2009; launches 'Abdali Life Achievement Award'

This award is one of the core activities of "Ru'yatuk", Abdali's Corporate Social Responsibility Program.

The Abdali Innovation Award is a unique initiative engaged by Abdali Psc. and aims to encourage and drive Jordanian university students towards creative and critical thinking in their final year projects. For the first year, the AIA has scored a high success rate whereby it gathered 157 participants from two main universities in Jordan (namely Jordan University and Jordan University for Science and Technology) who presented 88 projects among which 16 made it to the final round.

During the ceremony, four winning projects were awarded by the jury based on their level of creativity, the philosophy of the projects and their ideas, the relationship of the projects with their environment and their practical executions. On the other hand, Honorary Awards were also granted to four other projects selected by the jury in tribute to the students' supreme efforts and commitment.

The winning projects are: "Ain Ghazal Interpretation Park" created and implemented by the engineers: Mohammad Al Jabi, Basma Majed Nawara and Liyan Al Jabi, "Convention Center" created and implemented by the engineers: Bara'a Abualrous, Farah Bsais and Nadine Soudi, "The Science Park" created and implemented by the engineers: Arwa Al-Sabha, Dima Al-Qasem and Esra Abu Kar, "Ain Ghazal Interpretation Park" created and implemented by the engineers: Rasem Kamal, Heba Al Najada and Yousef Sayyed Ahmad.

During the event, honorable mention awards were also given to another four outstanding projects in appreciation for the student's exceptional efforts in implementing them, which are: "Amman Convention Center" created and implemented by the engineers: Randa Al-Haddadin, Deena Al-Mikhi and Yasmine Al Zobi, "College of Architecture and Design at JUST" created and implemented by engineer Khaled Mhd Sedki, "Fashion School Complex" created and implemented by engineer Khaldoon Nofan Al-Zou'bee, and "Ain Ghazal Interpretation Park" created and implemented by the engineers: Saad Fahmi Al Rabadi, Lana Samir Janho and Amjad Zuhair Malhas.

In Addition, Abdali Psc. announced during the ceremony the launch of its "Life Achievement Award", granting this year's award to the renowned international engineer Jaafar Toukan, whose exceptional work reflects a combination of modern thinking with a deeply rooted historical touch. The "Life Achievement Award" handed by the Mayor of Amman, H.E Omar Al-Maani was recieved on behalf of Jaafar Toukan by Mr. Saeed Abu Jaber.

Mr. Jaafar Toukan is looked upon as a great inspiration to all Jordanian engineers. His experience has no limits as he constantly strives to interact with the upcoming generations, not to mention his strong faith in teamwork and constant cooperation with students and young engineers.

During the award ceremony, Eng. Akram Abu Hamdan, Vice Chairman of Abdali Psc., stated:

"The Abdali Innovation Award comes in line with the continuous efforts of the company to remain socially close to the society in which it operates, therefore, this award is a clear initiative meant to support tomorrow's engineers and architects of Jordan."

On another note, Mr. Jamal Itani, CEO of Abdali Psc., said, "We celebrate today's creativity through our promising future generation and we are proud of their ambition to grow in the engineering and architectural world, locally and regionally."

He added, "We could discern the high level of commitment, creativity and innovative ideas in the student's projects which were all derived from a clear vision, all of which is today a major driver to extend the "Abdali Innovation Award" for the years to come."

The main intention of the Abdali Innovation Award is to address university students through promoting their innovation, creativity and practical solutions to architectural and engineering challenges, while encouraging their critical and creative thinking. The Abdali Innovation Award, is considered an innovation by itself in Jordan, and is in line with Abdali Psc.'s vision of positively contributing to the community in which it operates.