7th NSTI Festival, the largest educational event in the region commences; offers students a platform to exhibit innovations

The largest educational event in the area, the 7th National Science, Technology, and creativity (NSTI) Festival, has kicked off a month-long celebration focused on encouraging creativity and enabling youth to transform innovative ideas into successful initiatives. The festival provides a venue for students to showcase their ideas, encouraging ingenuity, skill, and academic distinction. Education Minister Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi honoured the opening ceremonies. This event, which takes place throughout February, is a part of UAE Innovation Month. The NSTI competitions are held at Dubai Festival City through February 5.

Additionally present were Dara Calleary, Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital, and Company Regulation, Ireland; Huda Al Hashimi, Deputy Minister of Cabinet Affairs for Strategic Affairs; Dr. Amna bint Abdullah Al Dahak Al Shamsi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment; and Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh, Cultural Advisor to His Highness the President of the UAE and Chancellor of the United Arab Emirates University.

The sixth "Emirates Young Scientist Competition," which showcases creative ideas from Cycle 2 and Cycle 3 students around the UAE, is one of the many activities comprising the seventh NSTI Festival.

The number of research projects and participating schools in the competition has expanded noticeably; from 217 in 2018 to 3,966 in 2024, more projects were registered in the competition.

The four primary disciplines for this year's Emirates Young Scientist Competition are Technology, Chemistry, Biology and Ecological Sciences, Physical and Mathematical Sciences, and Social and Behavioural Sciences.

At the NSTI Festival, the top 100 projects in each category will compete.

Projects submitted for the Emirates Young Scientist Competition this year fall into four categories: technology; biological and ecological sciences; chemistry; physical and mathematical sciences; and social and behavioural sciences.

The NSTI Festival will include competition for the top 100 projects across all categories.

This year, the MoE is using AI to assess projects. The NSTI Festival will also include the "KIDSPRENEUR" competition, which targets Kindergarten and Cycle 1 kids in an effort to promote entrepreneurship and innovation from an early age. This initiative is in keeping with the National Agenda for Entrepreneurship and SMEs, which seeks to make the UAE an entrepreneurial nation by 2031.