Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) has launched the ‘Creative Innovation Challenge,’ calling on entrepreneurs to provide innovative solutions that would contribute to preserving Emirati tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

In addition to cash prizes for the top three winners, a group of the best participants will have the opportunity to appear on the Dubai Culture platform ‘North Star Dubai,’ the largest event for start-ups and entrepreneurs in the region hosted by the Dubai World Trade Centre from 17-20 October. The event will be held in conjunction with Gitex Global 2022, the region’s premier technology exhibition.

The Idea
The Creative Innovation Challenge is a global competition that aims to attract the best regional and international start-ups in the cultural and creative industries to develop ideas to help preserve Emirati heritage using contemporary technologies. The aim is to deliver an interactive experience that users can engage with, contributing to the transfer of experiences and the exchange of knowledge.

Awards and Benefits
A specialised team from Dubai World Trade Centre will select 20 participants, and, after participation is closed, the top 10 participants will be shortlisted and given the opportunity to present their innovative ideas in the field of heritage preservation as part of the Creative Economy space under North Star Dubai. A jury of experts will then evaluate the submissions and select three of them to win cash prizes of $5,000, $3,000 and $1,000. In addition, the 10 nominees will have a chance to be shortlisted to participate in the Gitex Supernova Challenge in the Best Creative Economy category and win a $10,000 prize.

The Creative Innovation Challenge is also an opportunity for start-ups to be part of the investor programme, providing them with the opportunity to connect with the world’s most prominent investors. The start-ups will also obtain entry passes to the competition and Gitex Global as well as accessing the conference and exhibition areas. They will also receive invitations to attend a forum for innovative global start-ups that would help them build a distinguished business network. An airline ticket and hotel accommodation will also be provided for one member from each shortlisted international company.

Innovative platform
Hala Badri, Director General of Dubai Culture, said: “As the government entity entrusted with the cultural and creative sector in Dubai, we are keen to find innovative ways to document, preserve and celebrate the components of our rich Emirati heritage. This is all the more important as access to cultural heritage is essential for the development of societies and granting a sense of identity and continuity. It also consolidates cultural diversity and human creativity, as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) advocates. We aim to celebrate our tangible and intangible cultural heritage while also seeking to identify contemporary ways to present our culture, perpetuate it across generations, and celebrate it internationally.”

Badri added: “Dubai Culture’s participation in this prominent Middle East technical event is consistent with its belief that innovation and creativity characterise our current era and must exist in the culture and arts sector. They also form part of the Authority’s commitment to supporting the ‘Dubai Smart City’ initiative and its endeavour to provide an innovative platform for the cultural and creative industries and creative entrepreneurs. Through the Creative Innovation Challenge, we are pleased to be providing an opportunity for start-ups in this field to showcase their innovations to a global audience and participate in the promotion of cultural progress as well as exploring ways to implement and benefit from participating solutions at the local and regional levels.

According to the Unesco, cultural heritage is classified into two categories: tangible and intangible. Tangible cultural heritage includes monuments, buildings, religious and historical places and artefacts of religious facilities, such as temples, tombs, and mosques as well as military and civil buildings, such as forts, palaces, castles, dams, towers and historical walls. Intangible cultural heritage includes living traditions or methods of expression inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral expressions, performing arts, social practices, festive occasions, or knowledge and skills associated with the production of traditional crafts.

Details about the challenge
The submitted solutions must be innovative, attractive, scalable, affordable, reliable and easy to use, taking into account the needs of People of Determination, language barriers, etc. The solutions should also be sustainable, durable, effective, sensitive to the location and context of their uses, and contribute to the safeguarding of cultural heritage.

Some of the recommended topics could include:
•    A 3D experience within a historical neighbourhood that reflects traditional architecture.
•    Digital tools capable of storing specific craft skills to help revive, preserve and interactively pass them on to future generations.
•    Technologies that can assist with the research, documentation and dissemination of cultural heritage for the present and the future.

Companies wishing to participate can participate through the event website no later than 11 September 2022, a statement said. – TradeArabia News Service