Hayat Sindi: Young Arab inventors ‘will transform entire societies’
Young Arabs are making headway with new inventions and ideas for sustainable businesses that will change societies. This is the bold prediction of Hayat Sindi, founder and chief executive officer of the i2 Institute, at a press conference here on Tuesday.
The i2 Institute will showcase the work of several Arab scientists and inventors who studied and worked at leading universities in the United States, at a conference in Riyadh on Feb. 17. The conference would be an opportunity for people to exchange ideas on various topics, with insights from prominent international speakers on innovation, entrepreneurship and creative leadership, she said.
“The day will come when ideas of Arab origin will turn into sustainable businesses,” said Sindi, who is also a member of the Shoura Council. She said the aim of this work was to encourage imagination and creativity and enrich the Arab region. This would create a “unique community of scientists, engineers and technologists, who will change societies.”
She said i2 adopts Arab inventors, regardless of their gender or religion, and tries to help them with financial and other support.
“I act as a mediator between inventors and investors, institutions and firms,” she said. “I have approached almost all the various education and financial institutions.”
She said the various fellows showing their work spent more than eight months at the Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States.
She said the i2 Institute would play a similar role to other institutions including the King Abdul Aziz and his Companions Foundation for the Gifted and Creativity (Mawhiba), Badir Program for Technology Incubators at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology and GCC Inventors.