The UAE’s brightest young engineers compete in Dubai International Academic City contest

December 08, Dubai UAE:The first Dubai International Academic City (DIAC) Best Innovative Engineering Project 2021 competition took place last week in strategic partnership with ENOC Group. It saw Subbiksha Sugumar, Reuben Francis D’costa, Vivian Vincent and Sai Rohit Behara of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) Dubai Campus take home top honors and a cash prize of AED30,000. The Manipal group’s submission was an innovative energy concept – power generation using speed breakers.

With groups and individuals from 11 DIAC partner universities submitting a total of 27 projects, the competition aimed to challenge engineering and IT students to showcase and present the quality of their work and served as a platform for them to gain recognition in the government and private engineering industries.

The runners-up prize of AED20,000 went to an individual contender, Rokas Solovjovas of Heriot-Watt University, for his floating solar panels that make oil rigs more sustainable. Meanwhile Nishant Ashar and Abarino Santosh from BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus took the third place AED10,000 award for their submission, which conceptualizes the extraction of cellulose nano crystals for biodegradable packaging film.

“I’m delighted to see the efforts submitted by the finest young engineering minds at DIAC in this competition,” said Mohammed Abdullah, Managing Director of DIAC.

All of the projects are a testament to the exceptional teaching offered by DIAC partner universities as well as the innovative, high-tech mindset of the students pursuing their higher education here, he added.

“The event allows industries to discover emerging, innovative new engineering and IT technologies and to source the skilled workforce talents among the new graduates, who will be in better stead to get a head start in the careers of the future. The competition has a great importance as it offers the students an opportunity to share their work, compete with other fellow students and get acknowledged.

“From a broader perspective, competitions like this are also well aligned with the UAE Strategy for Talent Attraction and Retention, which was announced by His Highness Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, earlier this year. The strategy aims to strengthen the UAE’s leading position as a preferred destination for living, working and investing.”

Vivian Vincent said, “On behalf of the winning group, I’m so pleased to have our efforts recognized by this award and would like to thank DIAC and Manipal Dubai for giving myself and the other contestants this opportunity. We’re glad that the judges had confidence in our project, which repurposes waste energy.

“I’m optimistic that winning this competition will prove a valuable stepping stone for our long-term career journeys.”

Dr Jason Fitzsimmons, Academic President, MAHE Dubai, said, “This competition win is a testament to the tireless efforts of our students and faculty at MAHE Dubai. I am very pleased with the performance of our students and am proud to see them representing the university in this manner.

“I would also like to thank DIAC for organizing this event – this kind of healthy competition spurs excellence within a community.”