Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 48 | Page 14

NEWS MoTC launches first edition of Smart City Expo Doha during QITCOM 2019 T he Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) in Qatar has partnered with the organisers of Smart City Expo World Congress, Fira de Barcelona, to launch Smart City Expo Doha. The event took place at Qatar IT Conference & Exhibition 2019 (QITCOM 2019), under the theme, ‘Safe, Smart Cities’. Smart City Expo is a global platform committed to promoting awareness and understanding of Smart Cities and the development of smart initiatives for a sustainable future. Smart City Expo Doha, in its first edition in Qatar, aimed to introduce innovative technologies to enhance the lives of citizens, residents and visitors through social inclusion, sustainability and empowerment. Her Excellency Reem Al Mansoori, Assistant Undersecretary for the Digital Society Development Sector at the MoTC, said: “We are delighted to partner and co-ordinate with Fira de Barcelona which is one of the world’s leading companies in this field to introduce the first Smart City Expo Doha. “The partnership with Fira de Barcelona reflects our readiness for business dialogues and commitment towards bringing together global leaders and experts from various economic sectors to showcase innovative technologies.” “Regionally and globally, Qatar has been on the frontlines of a major Digital Transformation towards safe Smart Cities.” ////////////////// Newton Group of Schools launches STEM education programme B oeing and INJAZ Qatar have celebrated the successful launch of a new STEM education programme at Newton Group of Schools in Doha. The programme for 8 to 11-year-old students was designed by Technovation, a global technology education non-profit organisation that Boeing has been working with since 2016. HE Sheikha Hanadi bint Nasser Al Thani, Chairperson of INJAZ Qatar and INJAZ Al Arab, and Bernard Dunn, President of Boeing Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, attended the launch and witnessed the programme implementation throughout the classrooms of the school. “It’s hugely fulfilling for Boeing to see the kind of forward-thinking attitude at play in the classrooms here at Newton International School,” said Dunn. “Our strong 14 INTELLIGENTCIO partnership with INJAZ Qatar is based on our mutual commitment to empower the next generation of STEM leaders in Qatar.” Boeing facilitated trainers from Technovation, headquartered in the US, to fly to Qatar to train grade three to five teachers. The training included access to the Curiosity Machine curriculum which is AI- based incorporating several Boeing-inspired challenges, training modules, workbooks and lesson plans. The teachers are now implementing the curriculum and challenges into their classrooms. Some of the design challenges include engineering a safe stopping robot that turns itself off when leaving a safe area. www.intelligentcio.com