Mobilizing Young Talent
| Author | Elizabeth March |
| Position | WIPO Magazine Editorial Team |
"It is the duty of us all in the age of innovation to nurture giftedness and talents," writes King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The King is the president of the recently established Mawhiba Foundation, also known as the King Abdulaziz and his Companions' Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity.
The Mawhiba Foundation was set up in response to a series of challenges for Saudi Arabia identified in a 15-year national development strategy. Foremost among these were international competition for highly skilled personnel; the rising pre-eminence of knowledge-based industries in the global economy; the demands of an expanding youth population; and the country's recent admission to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
On the basis that the future growth and prosperity of a nation depend on the talents of the next generation, the Mawhiba Foundation is developing comprehensive programs to nurture giftedness and creativity in young people. The aim is to foster a critical mass of young leaders in the field of science and technology and to build up the national capacity for generating innovative ideas.
Taking a holistic approach, the Foundation looks at cultivating not only intellectual talents, but also the personal qualities to enable young leaders to fulfill their potential. Among the initiatives highlighted by Mawhiba are:
* Packed summer programs hosted by leading national and international universities.
* The Imagine Service - an electronic interface through which middle and high school students can submit ideas or projects for evaluation by experts in the relevant fields.
* The Shawer Service - a specialized educational consultancy for gifted individuals, their parents and educators.
* Competitions and scientific creativity awards, including financial awards, targeted at the under 25s, plus participation in international conferences and innovation exhibitions. In March, for example, the Mawhiba Foundation and the Saudi oil company Aramco sponsored the Ibtikar First Saudi Innovation Exhibition, under the slogan "Nurturing innovation to support prosperity."(See Invention Awards in WIPO Magazine issue no. 2/2008).
* A National Portal for giftedness, creativity and innovation, designed to link students, educators, innovators, government ministries and private institutions, and to provide an electronic...
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