MIT Technology Review Arabia, a platform on Majarra, has announced the winners of the fifth MENA Innovator Under 35 (IU35) award, which recognizes leading innovators with deep technical expertise whose invention or research has the potential to transform The way people live better and achieve a qualitative leap in the world.
This year saw an unprecedented number of nominations, with diverse innovations in technology, biotechnology, computer science, medicine, materials science and more.
IU35 2022 Edition Winners
With the help of a committee of 22 distinguished independent judges, including technologists, entrepreneurs, and academics associated with research centers, leading technology companies, and globally renowned universities, MIT Arab Technology Review is IU35 15 innovators selected The fifth edition reads as follows:
- Ahmad Alabdulkareem, Saudi Arabia, Chief Technology Officer, Intelmatics Corporation, Using his long experience in AI and advanced analytics to develop new decision intelligence algorithms that not only enhance and improve decisions, but even recommend decisions in many situations (providing decision makers a sort of “autopilot” mode).
- Tasnim Harasheh, Nanotechnology and Artificial Intelligence Researcher, Jordan University of Science and Technology, The innovative NANOAPTA is a fast, portable and easy-to-use point-of-care device for early breast cancer diagnosis that assists women with mock exams.
- Zahin Rohan Razeen, Bangladeshi UAE Resident, Founder and CEO, Hydroquo+, Inc., A hydropower information research and development start-up company, dedicated to using the Industrial Internet of Things to ensure water safety. The Hydroquo+ combines spectral sensing technology with a software package that instantly transmits laboratory test results through a mobile interface that can be monitored from anywhere.
- Asmaa Abdallah, resident of KSA, Lebanon, postdoctoral fellow at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Applying machine learning to wireless systems, especially those relying on reflective surfaces, to rapidly scale wireless systems while reducing costs and increasing the potential for greater network coverage in areas where connectivity is difficult. This new contribution is expected to have a significant impact in supporting the deployment of sixth-generation wireless systems.
- Alaa Alahmadi, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Taiba University, Saudi Arabia, Innovative AI system enables reliable automation of QT prolongation detection, helping to interpret ECG signals in a logically interpretable manner, enabling early detection of sudden death risk and saving thousands of lives.
- Wedyan Babatain, a Saudi postdoctoral fellow at KAUST, A novel, multifunctional, wearable platform has been developed using graphene and liquid metal materials. It wirelessly monitors exercise patterns, temperature, humidity, respiration, and other health indicators. It also allows real-time monitoring of legged robots.
- Mohammed Shaaban, Egyptian Ph.D. Candidate, SUNY A high-resolution snapshot of the moment of actin nucleation was obtained, as actin nucleation and polymerization are involved in many physiological and pathological conditions, such as cell migration, sperm nuclear migration, tunnel nanotube formation, host-pathogen interactions, and cancer metastasis et al. His innovations will help basic and therapeutic research answer more complex and pathological questions related to actin cycling.
- Asma Al-Amoodi, Candidate for Ph.D. KAUST in Yemen, Developed the use of hematopoietic stem cells to treat blood diseases, including leukemia. Her innovations have important implications for developing our medical and bioscience knowledge and preventing leukemia relapses in humans.
- Hilda Ghadieh, Lebanese Assistant Professor at the University of Barramand, Extensive research has been conducted to elucidate the underlying causative mechanism of NAFLD and is seeking to launch a drug specifically for the relief of NAFLD that has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
- Ayoub Glia, Morocco-UAE resident, postdoctoral fellow at NYU Abu Dhabi A technique has been developed that provides an innovative method for cryopreserving mammalian cells on paper without sacrificing quality. His method is cost-effective (based on common filter paper), space-saving, simple and manageable. This innovation aims to restructure the preclinical testing process by providing more reliable tumor models for direct future use.
- Jehad El-Demellawi, KSA resident in Egypt and postdoctoral fellow at KAUST, New nanomaterials with tunable functionality have been developed that are less expensive (abundant) and easier to process, but not at the expense of lower performance than expensive standard materials widely used in solar cells, such as silver. This cost reduction will significantly impact the deployment of such technologies, especially in the shiny year-long MENA region.
- Fahd Al Qureshah, Assistant Research Professor, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Saudi Arabia, Postdoctoral Fellow, Rockefeller University, A previously unrecognized function of the PI3Kδ enzyme in plasma cell (PC) homeostasis was identified. This discovery provides a powerful tool for manipulating plasma cells, which have been the subject of intense research for decades due to their wide range of applications, from autoimmune and malignant diseases to the production of vaccines and antibodies.
- David Guirguis, Egyptian Studies Associate, Ph.D. Candidate at Carnegie Mellon University, Created a method to improve the 3D printing process of metal alloys using artificial intelligence to improve quality and reliability. He’s starting his own startup, Consistency, which specializes in 3D printing metals for aerospace.
- Ghada Alhussein, Syrian UAE resident, Assistant Professor at Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Created OsteoMentor, an end-to-end smart ecosystem to help people living with (or at risk of) osteoporosis manage their healthcare. Furthermore, the system relies on a novel approach to assess the strengths of emotional ambience in natural conversations. By combining emotional states with all other patients’ medical data and suggesting better health care plans, the app can provide more personalized healthcare support for patients outside of the clinic on a personal level.
- Dahlia Mohamed Hassan, Egyptian Biomedical Engineer at Khalifa University, Created Bloom, a safe, affordable and self-adjusting prosthetic leg design. Made from recycled materials and costing less than $20, the design offers a universal solution so amputees in countries at war can adjust their limbs to suit them, rather than traveling to hard-to-reach clinics.
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About the IU35 Award
MIT Technology Review Arabia organizes MENA IU35 Awards every year since 2018. It is the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) version of MIT Technology Review’s global awards launched in 1999 and includes such international figures as founder Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook and Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google (Sergey Brin).
The IU35 Awards from MIT Technology Review list the world’s most outstanding and important innovators under the age of 35. It recognizes a group of young innovators, men and women, who come up with the most exciting and interesting inventions and research.
The IU35 awards include the brightest minds, technologists, male and female researchers, scientists and academics. Since its inception in 2018, 55 innovators from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Egypt, Kuwait, Tunisia, Algeria, Oman, Turkey and the United States have been awarded. Notably, three winners of the 2019 IU35 MENA Awards won the global edition in 2020, namely Ghena Al-Hanaee (UAE), Omar Abu Dayeh (Palestine) and Mohamed Dhaouafi.