Innovators Under 35 celebrates promising innovators who develop new technology, or innovate utilizations of existing technologies, in order to solve the world's biggest problems. Each year since 1999, MIT Technology Review announces an annual list of exceptionally talented young innovators whose work has the greatest potential to transform the world.
As stated by MIT Technology Review: "It's part of our ethos that technology can and should be a force for good. Our annual list of innovators under 35 is a way of putting faces on that idea."
This year, Dubai Future Foundation and MIT Technology Review Arabia have recognized MSFEA's PhD graduate students Haytham Dbouk (BE'17), Abbas Sidaoui, and alumnus Fouad Maksoud (MSC'16). They are 3 of the 20 winners from the MENA region – among 470 candidates.
Haytham Dbouk created Pro-Shield and systems to harness energy and protect water throughout the MENA region. Abbas Sidaoui created an autonomous advert-targeting robot that can provide real-time data to advertisers. Fouad Maksoud is the researcher behind NanoSkin, a technology that creates a super hydrophobic barrier for clothing that allows skin to heal and breathe naturally.
MIT Technology Review Arabia relies on its committee of judges, made up of experts from leading universities and companies, to select the best and most innovative candidates. “This year's list shows that even in our hard, cynical world, there are still lots of smart people willing to dedicate their lives to the idea that technology can make a safer, fairer world."
Previous winners of the global award include Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Google; Mark Zuckerberg, the cofounder of Facebook; Jonathan Ive, the chief designer of Apple; and Max Levchin, the cofounder of PayPal and founder of Slide.
