The Dubai Youth Science Challenge winners explore Wolfsburg

The winners of the 2010 Volkswagen Middle East and Fraunhofer Middle East Dubai Youth Science Challenge, travelled to Wolfsburg, Germany to explore the unique science centre, Phaeno, and the Autostadt – Volkwagen’s mobility theme park.

“Volkswagen Middle East constantly strives to develop and encourage innovation, both in our products, and the communities we work with,” said Stefan Mecha, Managing Director of Volkswagen Middle East. “The students from the Institute of Applied Technology submitted a very inventive creation and we were delighted to award them with the trip to Wolfsburg, Germany.”

Students Ahmed Rashid Al Ghanim Al-Ali, Hamad Abdulla Abduljabbar Almajid and Aberlrahman Mohamed Ahmed Alhamadi were awarded the grand prize following their submission of a water rocket creation.  The challenge was to design, develop, and build ingenious machines, with categories including Paper Bridges, Water-Rockets, Mechanical Snails, and Submersible Robots.  The students presented their designs to a qualified jury of experts at the Volkswagen Training Centre, Dubai Airport Free Zone in December 2010.

Hamad Abdulla Abduljabbar Almajid, participating student from the Institute’s of Applied Technology commented: “The visit to Wolfsburg, Germany was fascinating.  The Phaeno centre is full of exciting experiments, which we were able to play with as well as exploring all the other exhibitions on display.  We also had a fun tour of the Autostadt, which showed us the history of the Volkswagen Group and we were able to take a tour through the enormous onsite factory.”

In addition to winning first prize with the students travelling to Germany, accompanied by their teacher Mr. Mohsen Elostaz, the Institute of Applied Technology across the UAE were awarded the title of ‘Best Science School 2010’ for their outstanding performance and results during the competition. 

“The aim of The Dubai Youth Science Challenge is to encourage and support the talents of tomorrow, to inspire the next generation to learn about engineering, and how to create concepts and solutions for the future of the automotive industry. This competition was the perfect catalyst to inspire and foster the emirate’s young minds, and I was extremely impressed by their creations,” added Mecha.

The science and technology competition was a collaborated effort between Volkswagen Middle East - the regional office of Europe’s largest car manufacturer; and Fraunhofer Middle East - the regional representative office of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the largest organisation for applied research in Europe. 

Sponsors Lufthansa and SALATA respectively provided flight tickets to Germany for the winning team and food during the event itself. The Dubai Youth Science Challenge also received the support from the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organisation (WAITRO), the German confectionery manufacturer - Haribo, EarlyBird delivery services, Expo-Connect and FitnessO2.

Volkswagen Middle East will host the next Youth Science Challenge competition in December 2011.