Business & Money | Tuesday 6 August, 2019 2:05 pm |

Aimed at supporting talented Arab and Emirati youth in the region whilst also honing their scientific and cultural abilities, Sheikha Jawaher bint Khalifa Al Khalifa and Khulud Abu Homos, on Behalf of Jawaher Khalifa Al Khalifa Foundation for Youth Empowerment and Art Format Lab Production, recently signed a strategic partnership agreement, to jointly launch a new media initiative that will host a number of innovative projects primarily focused on encouraging these regional talents. 

 

“The Arab Inventor” and “Bookathon” are two comprehensive transmedia initiatives implemented through several e-platforms, TV programs and on-the-ground events. The Arab Inventor is a nation-wide competition seeking the best young Arab Inventor living in the UAE. The organizers will be working with high schools and middle schools in the country so faculties and staff guide and train their students to qualify for the competition. Over the course of an entire academic year, participants will present their inventions in various events. The top 10 participants will be features on a TV show with the same title. The winner of the competition will earn the title of “The Arab Inventor of the Year”. 

 

Similarly, Bookathon aims to encourage the youth to be knowledgeable about their literature. As the title suggests, Bookathon is a competition for readers to test their knowledge on important Emirati and Arab works of literature. The initiative also includes yearlong activities that connects Emirati authors with young readers. There will also be a TV show that hosts two school student teams in each episode. The students will have to answer correctly through various entertaining segments such as “Bookmoji”, a segment that will have the teams guess the title of a book based on emojis. 

 

This partnership marks the establishment of the foundation’s activities within the media industry. Sheikha Jawaher bint Khalifa Al Khalifa said: "The foundation aims to empower the youth and help them reach the world at large by bridging between their potential and the right investors and decision makers that will launch their careers and make them innovators in our society. We will help nurture these talents and constantly provide the required encouragement that will better shape their abilities and help them serve their community in the future.”

 

She added: "Our goal is to empower the youth across all areas, particularly in the fields of media, science and culture, to contribute to building a well-educated and informed community. Through our partnership with Art Format Lab, we aspire to achieve our goals utilising a media initiative targeting school and university students, in particular, as we strongly believe they are the future of our Arab nation and humanity at large.”

 

Khulud Abu Homos, Chairperson of Art Format Lab, said:"The collaboration between our company and Jawaher bint Khalifa Al Khalifa Foundation for Youth Empowerment is the beginning of developing a strategic long-term partnership between the two parties that will collectively work towards executing various projects. As a production company, we believe that media initiatives are not only for entertainment but for creating positive breakthroughs in the UAE and Arab World.”

 

Dr Mustafa Alaidaroos, CEO of Art Format Lab, said that Art Format Lab aims to launch media initiatives and internationally competitive Arabic productions by developing the Arab content in the region in partnership with various studios in Hollywood, such as Universal Studios, Fox, Sony and others. The company acts, also, as an incubator for local young talents and aims to provide them with a platform that develops and nurtures their talents in a sustainable manner.”

 

The partnership signifies a joint effort to build a sustainable infrastructure for the growth and development in the youth of the UAE. Art Format Lab and Sheikha Jawaher Khalifa Al Khalifa Foundation for Youth Empowerment aim to be the model for further expansion of youth empowerment programs in the region.