Zayed University launches fourth e-biz challenge for UAE & GCC university students

The launch was announced at the press conference held September 24, 2005 at the institute's location in Dubai Internet City. Dr. Hanif Hassan, Vice President of Zayed University and sponsors of the "Zayed University e-biz Challenge IV" attended the launch.

Dr. Hanif Hassan Al Qassimi, Vice President of Zayed University said: "The Challenge gives UAE and GCC university students excellent networking opportunities, which may be beneficial after their graduation." In its fourth year, the Challenge is based on the successful student e-business competitions run by leading international academic institutes, Stanford University, MIT and Cambridge University. The competition enables regional students in higher education to participate in an internationally recognized e-innovation pursuit. Selected industry leaders have partner up with Zayed University to launch the event, ensuring industry and customer recognition and an opportunity to invest into the community and the future work force.

Dr. Hanif said the challenge has been made possible through strong partnerships with key industry leaders to reach out to technology and business leaders of the future. This is made possible through the generous support of the sponsors and partners, which include ADWEA, BMW, ACER COMPUTERS, EMARAT, AME INFO, ADCO, IBM, NATIONAL BANK OF DUBAI, CITIBANK, MICROSOFT, EMIRATES POST, EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES, Dubai e-Government, CAMPUS JOURNAL, and Maktoob.com just to name a few.

Dr. Abdullah Abonamah, Director of ITI said "The challenge is opened to junior and senior level university students throughout the United Arab Emirates and the GCC. The deadline of submitting the plans is February 2006. Groups of three students and a faculty member are eligible to form a team. The challenge promotes Leadership, Teamwork, Critical Thinking, and Information Technology. The ITI has partnered with Intellectual Media Association (IMA) to help protect the students' ideas, and raise their awareness about Intellectual Property (IP)".

Dr. Abonamah indicated that the Institute also partnered with Emerging Technologies a member of the UAE based Cassells Group of Companies to provide all participants and sponsors a voice automated recognition solution. The speech technology "voice portal" will enable participants in the e-biz challenge easy and convenient access to information. They can also access up to date information about the challenge, status of the teams, registration or business plan, challenge events and road show schedule, FAQ's, and sponsor information. To access the voice portal call: +971-2-681-8108.

This year, the challenge will include a competition on e-services organized in partnership with the Dubai e-Government. Dubai e-Government has taken a lead in the region in deploying e-Government applications and is among the first few governments in world which provided online services to its citizens. Dubai e-Government 's vision is to integrate individually automated government departments under one single umbrella

Based on this concept, students will be obtain their submissions on the new e-services category by providing:

(a) a marketing plan that creates awareness and informs the general public on the introduction of a new eservice, (b) customer migration to eservices which converts or migrates customers to conduct business with government departments from traditional methods to online methods, (c) innovative eservice by developing an idea, feasibility study, financial implications, vendor selection, or a project plan for an innovative eservice, (d) a marketing campaign by promoting the service with semi government or private sector, and utilizing marketing media with costs allocated to each medium.

"The numbers of participating teams throughout the past three years have reached (358) teams, (201) projects have been selected from (25) universities inside and outside the UAE, Dr. Abdullah concluded".