Business & Money | Thursday 28 February, 2019 2:15 am |

Under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline & Group, the UAE Innovation Chapter under Dubai Quality Group announced 9 winners of the UAE Innovation Award 2018 on 27th February 2019, where Ali Ibrahim, Deputy Director General of Dubai Economy, Eng. Hassan Omar - Chairman of Dubai Quality Group and Fatma Buti Al Mheiri - Chair of UAE Innovation Chapter, Dubai Quality Group recognized the winners and appreciated the award sponsors and partners.

It has been an exciting journey since the launch of the award in 2016, all the way till where the award is today - announcing the most outstanding companies when it comes to fostering a culture of Innovation. The UAE Innovation Award is the latest initiative by Dubai Quality Group: a non-profit organization set up in 1994 to promote Excellence & Innovation in the region.

Marking the UAE Innovation Month, the ceremony celebrated the success of the most outstanding participants to the 2nd cycle of the UAE Innovation Award, an award that was launched with the core objective of spreading a culture of innovation throughout UAE private sector.

The ceremony began with the opening speech of Eng. Hassan Omar - Chairman of Dubai Quality Group, who remarked “We are extremely pleased to host this prestigious award under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, and play a significant role in supporting organizations in the UAE private sector as they align their innovation strategies”

Dubai Quality Group have successfully aligned the Vision “Innovate to lead”, to develop and promote Quality and Business Excellences practices in UAE, , empowering organizations & professionals and supporting them to adopt and sustain world-class Business Excellence practices.…this award is in harmony with other national initiatives and national innovation strategy, aiming at promoting innovation and driving sustainable development in the country”, he said.

“Innovation is a viable investment to make UAE a global innovation hub, bringing great benefits to our future generation, and improving the country’s competitive position in the global innovation index”, he added.

Fatma Buti Al Mheiri, Chairman of UAE Innovation Chapter, Dubai Quality Group, said “The award has been launched in line with the UAE Vision 2021. The leaders of the nation have rightly identified innovation to be the way forward to ensure sustainable growth and development. In addition to improving the country’s competitive position in the global innovation index, we are confident that the award will highlight the significance & role of innovation in building better opportunities for the future. The UAE Innovation Award is focusing on the private sector and it differs from other awards by its scope and objectives.”

She added “The award is one of the new strategic initiatives, and we have received an overwhelming response to the award in this cycle. This is a clear indicator of the importance innovation has gained in private sector recently.

“Over the last two years we are proud to have trained around 200 assessors from different nationalities and industries on the award’s framework to become innovation experts so they can provide a comprehensive feedback report that will support organizations to identify strengths and performance gaps in innovation, thus framing a complete roadmap for their innovation strategies.” She said.

She added “The award framework and criteria have been designed based on world-class Innovation concepts and best practices, and will be a great tool for companies to assess and raise their innovation maturity. By spreading innovation culture throughout the private sector, the UAE Innovation Award will greatly contribute to the achievement of the national innovation strategy aimed at making the UAE one of the most innovative nations in the world.

Participating companies were assessed under the 3 major award criteria: Innovation Capabilities, Innovation Drivers and Innovation Results, under the governance of judging committee members, following which they were awarded from 1 to 5 stars based on scores achieved. The award framework & criteria was developed to assess the overall innovation maturity level of organizations.

The ceremony started with the appreciation of the Sponsors of the 2nd cycle of UAE Innovation Award where Dubai Duty Free, Ducab, ENOC, Knauf LLC, and FedEx Express International BV were recognized for their support as Sliver Sponsors, followed by Emirates NBD as Bronze Sponsor.

Media partners were also appreciated for their support to the award with Dubai Media Incorporated recognized as Strategic Media Partner, Gulf Business Magazine as Official Media Partner, and Business Dubai Magazine as Media Partner.

The award’s Strategic Partner Team Power International represented by Dr. Kasim Kanakri & Su Kanakri was honored at the Ceremony for the major contribution in designing & developing the award framework & criteria.

Following this, the Award Jury Members and Assessors of the 2nd Cycle were appreciated for their cooperation, time & dedication in supporting the award. The Jury Members this cycle comprised of:

Eng. Hassan Omar - Chairman of Dubai Quality Group

Ms. Fatma Buti Al Mheiri - Chair of UAE Innovation Chapter, Dubai Quality Group

Dr Kasim Kanakri - Chief Executive Officer, Team Power International & Award Technical Advisor

Ms. Shaikha AlBishri - Director of Business Excellence Department, Dubai Economy

Mr. Amer Bin Ahmed - DQG Board Member and Managing Director of Knauf LLC Middle East & India

The Ceremony concluded with the announcement and appreciation of the winners of the 2nd cycle of the award, starting with the companies who were awarded special appreciation, namely:

Mashreq Bank

Tafkeer - Institute of Vocation Innovation

Following this, the Criteria Winners of the UAE Innovation 2018 were announced as follows:

Criteria Winner - Innovation Capabilities: Dubai Taxi Corporation

Criteria Winner - Innovation Drivers: Global Food Industries LLC

Criteria Winner - Innovation Results: SAP MENA

Concluding the Ceremony, the star winners of the 2nd cycle of the UAE Innovation Award were announced as:

2 Star Winners:

British Orchard Nursery

Tafkeer - Institute of Vocation Innovation

3 Star Winners:

Abu Dhabi Health Services Company – SEHA

ASGC Construction LLC

Emirates NBD

Mashreq Bank
 

4 Star Winners:

Dubai Taxi Corporation

Global Food Industries LLC

SAP MENA