Under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline & Group, Dubai Quality Group announced 12 winners of the UAE Innovation Award Ceremony that held on 28th Feb. 2018, at Le Meridien Dubai, where the winners, participants, and sponsors has been honored in the presence of H.E. Sami Ahmad Dhaen Al Qamzi, Director General of Department of Economic Development, along with the CEOs of the applicants, sponsors, media partners, and official's representatives of local and international media. It has been an exciting journey since the launch of the award last year, all the way till where the award is today - announcing the most outstanding companies when it comes to fostering a culture of Innovation. The UAE Innovation Award is the latest initiative by Dubai Quality Group: a non-profit organization set up in 1994 to promote Excellence & Innovation in the region. Marking the Innovation month, the 1st cycle of UAE Innovation Award has been launched with objective to spread innovation culture throughout UAE private sector, covers a wide range of industries such as Health & Wellbeing, Education & Learning, Energy & Utility, Technology & Communication, Transport, Social & Community Development, Retail & Consumer Goods, Financial Services, Heritage, Art & Culture, Sports & Recreation, Real Estate & Construction, Manufacturing, Tourism & Hospitality, and Professional Services, Marketing & Media, NGO & Non-Profit etc… The ceremony start with opining speech of Fatma Buti Al Mheiri, Chairman of Dubai Quality Group, said: “With the wise guidance of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice- President and Prime Minister of the UAE & Ruler of Dubai, the 1st Cycle of UAE Innovation Award has been launched by Dubai Quality Group Board of Directors under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum. She added “The award has been launched in line with the vision of UAE's leadership 2021, who has rightly identified innovation to be the way forward to ensure sustainable growth and development. In addition to improving the country's competitive position in the global innovation index, we are confident that the award will highlight the significance & role of innovation in building better opportunities for the future. The UAE Innovation Award is focusing on the private sector and it differs from other awards by its scope and objectives.” She added “The award is one of the new strategic initiatives where the applicants have been overwhelming considering that this is the first year of the award. This is a clear indicator of the importance innovation has gained in private sector recently. She concluded “The award framework and criteria have been designed based on world-class Innovation concepts and best practices, and will be a great tool for companies to assess and raise their innovation maturity. By spreading innovation culture throughout the private sector, the UAE Innovation award will greatly contribute to the achievement of the national innovation strategy aimed at making the UAE one of the most innovative nations in the world.

Assessing companies' innovation levels was against the 3 major award criteria of Innovation Capabilities, Innovation Drivers and Innovation Results, under the governance of judging committee members. Participating companies will be awarded from 1 to 5 stars based on scores achieved. The award framework & criteria has been developed to assess the overall innovation maturity level of private sector companies while the comprehensive feedback report will help companies to identify their innovation strengths and performance gaps. The appreciation starts as follow: First with the sponsors, as the Main Sponsors of the 1st cycle of UAE innovation Award were Emirates Global Aluminum as Platinum sponsor, along with Dubai Duty Free, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, and Port, Customs & Free Zone Corporation (PCFC) as sliver sponsors, additionally Noor Bank and Petrochem Meddle East as bronze sponsors. The brain behind the UAE Innovation Award has been appreciated for its remarkable contribution in designing & developing the award framework & criteria, the award Strategic Partner is Team Power International represented by Dr. Kasim Kanakri & Su Kanakri. For the media partners who appreciated were Dubai Media Inc. as strategic Media Partner, along with Bloomberg Business Week, Gulf Business Magazine and Forbs Meddle East as Official Media partners. Additionally, Press sector of Dubai Media Inc. ( Albayan, Emarat Alyoum, Emirate 24/7, Dubai Post), Dar Alkhaleej publication (Alkhaleej, Gulf Today, Kul Al Usra Magazine, Aliqtisadi Magazine) Al Dafra TV, and CEO Today Magazine as media partners. The Award Jury has been appreciated for their cooperation, time & dedication in supporting the award is includes:

• Fraz Chishti

• Hunter Lee Soik

• Feryal Tawakul

• Fatma Buti Al Mheiri

• Dr. Kasim Kanakri

Awarding the winners of the 1st Cycle of the UAE Innovation Award start by announcing; The 2 star companies:

• Aster Pharmacies Group LLC

• British Orchard Nursery

• Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority

• Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation

• Mashreq Bank

3 Star Winners:

• Emirates NBD

• The ENTERTAINER

4 Star Winners:

• Dubai Cable Company (Private) Limited

• Emirates Global Aluminium

• Global Food Industries

• The Emirates Group

And finally the 5 star winner of this cycle of the UAE Innovation Award is:

• Borouge Pte Ltd