KFAS celebrates commencement of 2016 Innovation Challenge
KUWAIT: The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences celebrated the commencement of the second 2016 KFAS Innovation Challenge and recognized the ten participating Kuwaiti companies in this year’s program. The initiative’s goal is to focus on innovation and enhancement of skills for sustainable growth in the private sector and infuse competitiveness among leaders to develop their companies.
In his speech at the dinner held at the Sheraton Hotel on this special occasion, the Foundation’s Director General, Dr Adnan Shihab-Eldin, mentioned that KFAS’“Innovation Challenge 2016” program, in collaboration with the Executive Education Centre of the University of Cambridge - Judge Business School, is considered one of the leading initiatives catered for the private sector’s support and development.
Private sector
Dr Shihab-Eldin also added that the initiative comes as part of KFAS’s objectives and strategy to support and develop the Kuwaiti private sector through raising awareness regarding the advantages of building an internal culture that promotes ways of investing in science, technology and innovation.
The 2016 KFAS Innovation Challenge is a dynamic learning program that runs for a period of six months. The program is centered around real business challenges that each team will bring to the table, obstacles that require them to create innovative solutions and strategies. Those challenges will be explored throughout the program’s phases and the teams will apply their knowledge on their innovation projects. The program starts in November 2015 with workshops in Kuwait, followed by four months of mentoring on a biweekly basis. Mentoring is provided by the Cambridge Judge Business School with a total of eight sessions between January to April of 2016. The third module will take place in Cambridge, UK on May 23 - 27 2016 and will be a combination of workshops and site visits to innovative companies. While the program fees are covered by KFAS, participating companies are only responsible for their team’s travel expenses.
Unique program
Peter Hiscocks, CEO, Executive Education; Senior Faculty in Enterprise and Innovation Management At Cambridge Judge Business School stated “We at Cambridge Judge Business School are delighted to have partnered with KFAS to develop and deliver this unique program. We will challenge the teams from the different Kuwaiti companies and take them through the entire innovation process to develop real innovation initiatives that will add value to their organizations.”
The ten participating companies for 2016 are Advanced Technology Company, Agility, Axis Solutions Company for Computer Systems, Boubyan Bank, International Turnkey Computer Systems (ITS), Kuwait Energy, Kuwait Finance House, Mohammed Homoud AL-Shaya, TABco International Food Catering, and Warba Bank.