The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) is set to host nine country-wide activities to celebrate the UAE Innovation Month, a festival of innovation organized annually by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation in February. MOCCAE’s activities will showcase to the public the Ministry’s commitment to preserving the nation’s environment and its efforts to integrate innovation into its daily operations and services.
Hosting the bulk of MOCCAE’s Innovation Month activities, Dubai is the venue for the ‘Our Innovative Environment’ initiative. In line with the Ministry of Education’s National Science, Technology and Innovation Festival, the event will educate schoolchildren about the importance of protecting the environment. The ‘Innovation Capsule’, for its part, will introduce the general public to MOCCAE’s wide range of e-services.
The ‘Innovation Talks’ activity will feature multiple dialogue sessions and host key innovation influencers and leading innovators from the public and private sector. Meanwhile, the ‘Our Environmental Apps’ initiative will promote the Ministry’s mobile apps, such as Seniar and Eco Tourism UAE, to encourage the public to utilize the information and services they provide.
Furthermore, the ‘We Won’t Let Them Go’ initiative will feature smart interactive maps, enabling residents and visitors to the city to pinpoint the geographical distribution of endangered species and provide insight into anticipated ecological developments 50 years into the future.
And in Abu Dhabi, MOCCAE will host the Eco Tourism Youth Camp to raise youth awareness about ecotourism practices and prominent ecotourism sites in the UAE. In addition, it will organize innovation camps as part of the ‘Beyond the Pitch’ initiative, rolled out by New York University Abu Dhabi in partnership with MOCCAE and the Global Green Growth Institute. The camps will convene academicians and students to drive innovative solutions to environmental challenges.
For its part, Sharjah will host the ‘Our Environment Through Years’ initiative that chronicles environmental milestones and landmark events for the public. Through the social media initiative ‘Innovation Observatory’, MOCCAE will post on its platforms visual content depicting the latest environmental sustainability innovations to further drive awareness.
Underlining the importance of the UAE Innovation Month, Eng Aisha Al Abdooli, MOCCAE’s Chief Innovation Officer, said: “The UAE Innovation Month is a celebration of innovation across the nation. Through encouraging public and private sector entities as well as community members to embrace innovative practices, this festival significantly contributes to strengthening the country’s position as a global hub for innovation.”
Stressing that MOCCAE pays the utmost attention to fostering innovation among young people, she added: “Realizing future environmental sustainability goals relies heavily on the ability of a country’s youth to come up with out-of-the-box solutions.”