Business & Money | Thursday 24 November, 2016 3:15 am |

As part of its participation at the second edition of the UAE Innovation Week, the Sharjah Department of eGovernment (DeG), is giving engaging workshops on programming language through a series of techy workshops under the theme ‘Education, Awareness, Innovation’, which began from 20 to 26 November at Expo Centre Sharjah. 

 

At the centre of these stimulating workshops is the ‘Aurindo’ program – an open-source microprocessor platform, which has been the cornerstone of thousands of programming projects spanning robotics, architecture, and even music. A team of experts from DeG are conducting a series of workshops, in which they teach and encourage participants to tinker with technology and build a knack for technological innovations.

 

The first one was held on Monday November 21st, and educated participants about the basics of programming and building prototypes using the Aurindo motherboard, while the second workshop teaching similar practices took place today (Wednesday). The conductors of the workshop taught participants to use the Aurindo chip to build a sensor, which detected motion with a beep and the flicker light.

 

“Innovation has become an indispensable part of the functioning of various governmental institutions in the UAE, since President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan approved the ‘Year of Innovation 2015’, which was followed His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai’s directive to hold the UAE Innovation Week annually in November. Every day, we are developing new systems, facilitating world-class procedures and delivering premium services reflecting the highest safety standards, to ensure our residents and citizens modern and technologically updated lives,” said His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Director General at Sharjah DeG.

 

“With each passing day, our lives are increasingly influenced by the impact of technology, where a great idea yearns to come to life. This is why we decided to dedicate our participation here at the UAE Innovation Week 2016, to ignite and support those minds who in essence will be the architects of the future. By teaching participants, the basics of how to use the Arduino platform, we are paving a way for them to bring their ideas to life, giving them the rights tool to transform their passion for innovation into real interactively designed products,” he added.

 

Upon being asked about the choice of Aurindo, he explained: “The Arduino platform is characterised by being simplistic, compatible with all operating systems, easy to find and download, and neutral in nature. Comparatively inexpensive, it provides a suitable budget for students as well as schools. It can function on most computer software systems, such as Window, Macintosh OSX and Linux. It helps in exploring projects branching from a variety of fields and consequently can bring unlimited innovative ideas into reality.” 

 

The concluding workshop will be conducted on Saturday, 26 November, from 01:00pm - 02:00pm. This is a first-of-its-kind opportunity for students, technology enthusiasts as well as hardcore computer programmers in Sharjah and the UAE to step into a world of programming and prototyping in the most creative and fun ways. 

 

The UAE Innovation Week was launched last year in adherence to the directives of the wise leadership with the aim of enhancing innovation and highlighting its role nationwide, among the spectrum of individuals as well as companies from government and private sectors. It attracts broad participation of entities from government and private sectors as well as individuals from across the UAE, and seeks to harness the most innovative services and products for a better and brighter future.