Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Distinguished Academic Performance at DEWAs main office. This is another example of DEWAs national and social responsibility and the wise leaderships vision to develop the skills and capabilities of young Emiratis, and support innovation and creativity projects. The MoU is for the exchange of technical, administrative, and consultative expertise, best practices and experiences.

The five-year renewable MoU intends that both parties will benefit from each others experience in the arbitration of awards, and develop related standards and criteria. It will help to achieve the objectives and strategies of both organisations by exchanging the expertise of trainers, judges, and specialists. The two organisations will also cooperate on organising specialised innovation and creativity workshops. The two sides agreed to form a committee to follow up and oversee the implementation of the MoU and evaluate performance of services.

The MoU was signed by HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, and HE Dr. Jamal Mohammed Al Muhairi, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Secretary General of the Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Distinguished Academic Performance. Present were HE Sulaiman Abdul Khaliq Al Ansari, CEO of the Award, and Khawla Bahlooq, Educational Excellence Director, Fatima Al Hashemi, Head of Assessment and Design, Alia Al-Obaidly, Head of Excellence Programmes, Marwa Sahrawi, Skill Development Administrator, Amathil Ghiath, Head of Media, and Mohamed Al Hammadi, Head of Public Relations at the Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Distinguished Academic Performance.

The MoU signing was also attended by Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources, Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, Dawood Mohammed Khalid, Acting VP of Commercial & Business Improvement, Ahmed Abdullah, Senior Manager of External Communications, and Arif Julfar, Senior Manager of Customer Relations at DEWA.

Signing the MoU supports the National Innovation Strategy, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make the UAE one of the most innovative countries in the world. It also contributes to consolidating Dubais position as a global hub for trade, finance, tourism, knowledge, and green economy. Innovation is the main foundation of DEWA. We adopt an integrated strategy to stimulate and encourage creative ideas and suggestions to support our vision to become a sustainable and innovative world-class utility, said Al Tayer.

DEWA provides innovative solutions to enhance its operations, support implementing the latest technologies, and build capabilities to drive research and development. This is achieved by providing the best training and scientific qualification programmes for Emirati citizens, and offering all possible organisational support to develop government performance. Through this MoU, we will step up efforts to raise awareness in schools and universities about the importance of preserving our natural resources and the need to sensibly use resources and protect the environment to achieve the objectives of the National Agenda 2021 and Dubai Plan 2021 to achieve the sustainable development of Dubai, added Al Tayer.

We are proud to work with DEWA, one of the leading national organisations in the UAE, which has demonstrated an organisational vision and a deep understanding of its responsibilities towards Emirati youth, and society as a whole, with its numerous national initiatives. DEWAs vision perfectly matches the Awards objectives to support education development and enrich its innovation environment, which is a catalyst for development. The Award is dedicated to quality initiatives that propel excellence in educational performance to achieve quality and excellence. The Award was in response to the directives of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, to mark 2015 as the Year of Innovation, and the National Innovation Strategy, announced by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said Al Muhairi.

The Award explores global trends and latest educational developments through its partnerships with several international organisations and institutions, especially by UNESCO. The Award has several initiatives that could serve our mutual goals, especially the innovation labs of the UAE FabLab that target the educational sector to spread awareness on the need to encourage innovation and creativity. The initiatives support the UAE strategy to develop scientific innovation and creativity projects. They develop the capabilities, skills of creative thinking, and scientific research of young people. FabLab promotes an environment that encourages excellence, and fosters joint projects that encourage innovation and creativity and discovers talented people, added Al Muhairi.

I thank DEWA, headed by HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA , for always supporting innovative projects. We appreciate the efforts of the team who oversaw the communication and coordination that made this agreement possible. We hope that our efforts will be successful in serving our nation and society, added Al Muhairi.