The award includes four main categories: innovators, innovative institutions, innovative initiatives and health technology. It is divided into 16 subcategories, within five main criteria including ambition for inspiration, influence, engagement, sustainability, and the repeated application, and 20 sub-criteria.

The first-of-its-kind award in the UAE and region comes as part of MoHAP’s plans to enhance innovative solutions and methods and bring about real changes in the healthcare system, so as to make innovation a holistic approach and more sustainable in the healthcare systems.

The honoring ceremony was attended by HE Awad Saghir Al Ketbi, Assistant Undersecretary of the Support Services, Saqr Al-Hemeiri, Director of the Training & Development Center Chief Innovation Officer and a number of department directors.

Innovation is the UAE's March towards the Future

HE Abdul Rahman bin Mohammed Al Owais, the Minister of Health said: “Launching the ‘Innovate for Health Award’ constitutes a unique and inspiring event in line with MoHAP’s vision to consolidate innovation in the health care sector and to pay tribute to its leaders, as well as to effectively engage the society in the innovation environment and enhance the innovation base. This is aligned with the National Innovation Strategy and the UAE’s ambitious vision to strengthen its position as a pioneering global model in the proactive response to future challenges.”

Al Owais stressed that this award is a creative competitive platform and an arena for innovative and intellectual competition between all federal, local and private government sectors in the health field.

“Thanks to the vision of our wise leadership, the UAE is getting into the next fifty years with determination, confidence and a roadmap for the future, to move towards the UAE 2071 with a special focus on creativity and innovation in all fields of government work. The UAE Innovation Month is a sustainable platform to enhance the UAE's status on the global map of innovation, and bolster the national innovation strategy to achieve the objectives of the National Agenda for the UAE Vision 2021, to make the UAE among the world’s best countries in the innovation field,”

Reflecting the Vision of Real Innovation

Congratulating the award winners, HE Awad Saghir Al Ketbi explained that the “Innovate for Health Award” reflects the vision of real innovation, as it brings together under one roof innovations in the health sector. It’s also an important step in encouraging the various segments of society to present creative ideas and effective initiatives supporting the paths of innovations in health fields.

“MoHAP will always be an attractive and incubating environment for ideas and innovations to achieve directives of the wise leadership that innovation is the sustainable and future capital of the UAE, and supportive of its competitive position towards exploring and building national capabilities in the field of innovation,” he concluded.

Celebrating Innovators

HE Dr. Youssif Al Serkal, Assistant Undersecretary for the Ministry’s Hospitals Sector and Chairman of the Innovation Committee, said: “This award reflects MoHAP’s strategy to pay tribute to innovators worldwide and enhance their efforts in developing innovative solutions to future challenges. This can be achieved by developing an integrated system for innovation and enhancing the UAE’s competitiveness. The award also comes as part of supporting MoHAP Innovation Strategy 2019 – 2021, developing and implementing innovative ideas, and adopting an appropriate methodology to lead change and its trends.”

Al Serkal underlined that innovative ideas are the one that makes the difference to stimulate and enrich the culture of innovation in the country, adding that there’s urgent need to take the initiative and rely on unusual and unconventional solutions in the healthcare field, where thinking outside the box has become a feature of distinguished countries, institutions and individuals.

“The importance of the award is to celebrate innovators, highlight the use of innovative thinking towards achieving the sustainable development goals, and leverage the expertise of developed countries in creating unusual creative solutions, and turning challenges into inspiration and opportunity to achieve

A Sustainable Platform for Competitive Innovation

Saqr Al-Hemeiri, Director of the Training & Development Center and Chief Innovation Officer congratulated the award winners, stressing that the “Innovate for Health Award” is playing an important role in creating many innovative solutions and methods to develop and improve the health care system and make it more sustainable with advanced quality. The award includes four main categories: innovators, innovative institutions, innovative initiatives and health technology.”

“Since its launch in January 2020, the Innovate for Health Award has attracted a remarkable turnout in the four categories via the website http://www.innovate4health.ae . The award aims to establish a sustainable platform to achieve quality and competitive innovation in the field of health care, by attracting innovators to create solutions to the challenges of the health sector, including the prevention of communicable and chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension and others,” he added.