DFF project wins 'Innovation Challenge' by Google News Initiative

Google announced that the Popular Science Arabia platform, a Dubai Future Foundation publication, is one of the winners of the Google News Innovation Challenge for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa, which was launched under the Google News Initiative to empower news innovators from around the world to demonstrate new thinking in online journalism and the development of new publishing business models.

Google News innovation challenge, Middle East, Turkey, and Africa was launched in June 2019, and received 527 nominations from 35 countries. A total of 21 winning projects from 13 countries were announced following the evaluation of applications and interviews with candidates.

Popular Science Arabia magazine won the challenge for providing an innovative platform that allows scientists, researchers, university professors and specialists to share knowledge with the public using the latest technical tools and editorial methods that help display press content in a simplified, accurate and interactive manner suitable for non-technical audiences.

Abdulaziz Al Jaziri, Deputy CEO of Dubai Future Foundation, noted that the message which His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, addressed to Arab youth in the magazine’s first issue, reflected his keenness to promote UAE-led knowledge sharing initiatives in various fields, and emphasised the need to continue efforts and promote innovation to achieve leadership.

Al Jaziri pointed out that the foundation, through its "Disseminating of Future Knowledge" pillar, is keen on providing scientific content covering future trends, emerging technologies, innovation and the latest scientific breakthroughs, with the aim of updating the public over the latest developments and global trends impacting the world.

Dubai Future Foundation partnered with Haykal Media to launch the Arabic edition of Popular Science magazine in May 2017 to enrich scientific content and contribute to building capacity among the youth in the region. Since its launch, the magazine has published 16 issues, 160,000 copies of which have been distributed to more than 20 countries, and recorded more than 60 million views annually through its various online platforms.

"With the support of the Google News Innovation fund, we will be able to develop our platform further to bridge the gap between researchers and academics on the one hand, and the general public on the other, using technology and our expertise in the content industry. We are happy to work closely with our partners at the Dubai Future Foundation, as we share the same vision in developing this sector," said Ammar Haykal, CEO of Haykal Media.

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