Around 300 undergraduate students from 20 Saudi universities gathered at KAUST from May 2 to 4 to compete in the STEAM Innovation Challenge. STEAM (short for science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) is an annual intensive ideation program where mixed interdisciplinary team members work together to create innovative concepts tackling pressing national and global challenges.
Undergraduate students listen to their team members speak during the University’s seventh annual STEAM Innovation Challenge
This year’s event—the seventh STEAM at KAUST and the largest yet—was held in partnership with Northrop Grumman, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) and Elm. KAUST Innovation and Economic Development organized the event.
48 teams to find solutions to challenges facing Saudi Arabia
The 48 participating teams tried to find solutions to challenges affecting the environment, health, smart cities, quality of life and safety and security. Participants moved through different levels of the ideation stage from problem definition to pitching and marketing.
Agents of Innovation at KAUST Entrepreneurship Center
“We designed [the] STEAM Innovation Challenge to inspire youth in Saudi Arabia on a national scale by immersing them in an intensive innovation experience,” said Hattan Ahmed, head of the KAUST Entrepreneurship Center. “The students addressed real challenges around the topic of sustainable cities crafted in collaboration with our corporate partners.”
300 undergraduate students from Saudi universities at KAUST to take part in the annual STEAM Innovation Challenge.
The winning teams were iCare, a bracelet to monitor pilgrims’ vitals and report accidents to healthcare providers for a better Hajj experience; Cure, which works to incentivize the collection of unused household medications for distribution to relief organizations for better living; and EHFADHHA, a demand prediction software for food retailers.