#UAEinnovators: The future takes shape through innovation - what Ahmed Al Mazroei did next

First among The National's top #UAEinnovators, inventor Ahmed Al Mazroei knows what that future will look like

Ahmed Al Mazroei at his innovation centre in Mussaffah. Delores Johnson / The National

Ahmed Al Mazroei has set up 1,000 square metres of space in Mussaffah dedicated to the future. And he knows what that future will look like.

At the heart of Mr Al Mazroei’s new innovation centre is the motto that while anyone can get an idea off the ground, it is where you land that matters. He wants the next generation of Emirati entrepreneurs to understand how important it is to have a clear vision. It is this clarity of thinking that has helped him to be recognised as one of the country’s brightest minds.

In June last year, Mr Al Mazroei was named The National's top innovator for entrepreneurship. It was the culmination of the #UAEinnovators series of stories about the country's most innovative business owners as nominated by our readers. The self-educated inventor's innovative mind was clearly on display at his Mussaffah factory floor through a myriad of robotic and electronic concepts brought to life.

The National highlighted our knowledge economy as part of the coverage of The Year of Innovation. Since then the call by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to foster a culture of innovation in the UAE has been put into action.

For example last year, the Ministry of Education began to implement classes in entrepreneurship and innovation as part of an optional curriculum at three federal and 12 private universities. As of next year these will be compulsory for all students in their second or third years.

And Dh2 billion has been earmarked from next year’s federal budget to support government innovation through the establishment of the Mohammed bin Rashid Innovation Fund to help inventors.

This is part of the necessary preparation of future generations for what the World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab calls the Fourth Industrial Revolution – the technologically-led transformation of business and society that will require a new type of workforce.

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■ During UAE Innovation Week give us your thoughts about this critical area for our country's development, by email, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, using the hashtag #UAEinnovators

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According to Sam Blatteis, public policy manager at Google Mena: “The innovation economy has become a realm of creativity and wild ideas. We think youth in the UAE can become a major part of it”.

This has been in evidence at the Google Innovation Hub in Ras Al Khaimah which, since opening in December 2014, has had an impact on youth attitudes toward innovation, “seeing a contagious enthusiasm to learn”, Mr Blatteis said.

Schools have sent their teachers there for training, started their own robotics clubs and planned their own innovation hubs after Google gave them access to cutting-edge technologies such as robotics, 3D printing, drone building and software coding at the RAK centre.

“We’ve had female youth driving to the hub over two hours each day to take electronics classes for the first time. Incubators and accelerators have also requested to develop their science, technology, engineering and mathematics [Stem] programmes based on the hub’s Stem programmes,” he said.

Mr Al Mazroei has also been helping to grow this ecosystem, providing training to school-age children and and speaking at events around the country – all the while building and developing new inventions at his innovation centre.

“This whole place is an R&D lab,” he said.

Dedicating three of his Saturdays a month, Mr Al Mazroei teaches the kids about robotics, space-related science, electronics and solar applications at his innovation centre.

He has also helped seven- to 10-year-olds develop their inventions. The best one was from an eight-year-old schoolgirl, he said, a robot rubbish bin that brings itself to you. It has pot­ential applications for the dis­abled and in the healthcare sector, according to Mr Al Mazroei.

A Majlis of Innovation – a kind of Batcave deep within the innovation centre itself where Mr Al Mazroei comes up with problem-solving ideas – connects to a bright white room for demonstrating inventions which in turn is attached to an R&D lab where his team sit. It is an inspiring place.

His higher media profile since winning The National innovation award helped to convince business licensing authorities in Abu Dhabi that opening an innovation centre was something worthwhile.

Mr Al Mazroei said that the support of Hamed bin Zayed was also critical. Like his father, he is keen to help those advancing the country’s efforts in the areas of technology and innovation.

“Let what you do speak for you, that is one thing Sheikh Zayed used to say,” Mr Al Mazroei said.

He has also found his way into the government school curriculum, his inventions and story appearing in school textbooks for science and business studies. Since he was a boy he has shown a talent for invention and a passion for hard work. A 550-horsepower “sport buggy, car”, camel racing robots, a device for falcon training, reconnaissance robots, aerial drones – just some of the things he has built – many of them award-winning. He promises to reveal something even more exciting at the Idex defence exhibition in Abu Dhabi in February.

Toyota has also signed him up to help promote the merits of its hybrid Prius among the petrolheads of the Gulf.

Still technology is rapidly evolving around him, from the rise of autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence to the expanding applications of virtual reality. How can a one-man enterprise, no matter how brilliant, keep up with the changing tides?

“I move with the wind, I move with the current, that way I do not get left behind,” he said.

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