Doha

Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) is hosting a number of activities in celebration of the Qatar National Day 2015 at its Darb Al Saai tent.
Large number of visitors are engaged in several events lined up at the QF tent. Children and their parents could be seen taking part in a wide range of the educational activities and games on offer.
The QF tent, the largest at this year’s festivities, has welcomed several dignitaries so far. They include HE the Minister of Youth and Sports Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali, HE the Minister of Education and Higher Education Mohamed Abdul Wahed Ali al-Hammadi, HE the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Dr Abdullah Saleh Mubarak al-Khulaifi, Traffic Department director Brigadier Mohamed Saad al-Kharji, and Ministry of Education and Higher Education undersecretary Rabia Mohamed al-Kaabi.
The dignitaries were given a special presentation about QF’s various activities and events during the National Day Celebrations. They were also taken for a special tour around the tent and shown several activities and games strategically designed by QF to engage participants in a bid to inspire innovation and creativity while also fostering a love and appreciation of Qatari culture and history.
This year, QF’s activities are focused on five main themes: Education and Lifelong Learning; Research and Innovation; Culture and Heritage Preservation; Sustainability; and Sports, Health and Well-being.Visitors will be able to enjoy QF’s National Day celebrations until December 20.
Several QF entities and universities are contributing to Qatar National Day under the umbrella of Research and Innovation:
‘Electronic Circuits’ is a hands-on activity by Texas A&M University at Qatar where the audience are asked to build a simple circuit. Another activity is a demonstration on how to make artificial snow using a common polymer, creating fake snow that is non-toxic, feels cool to touch, lasts for days, and looks authentic.
The Qatar Computing Research Institute is providing an automatic 2D-3D conversion of sports videos. Msheireb Properties is hosting an activity that encourages children to construct houses and buildings using Legos.
Stars of Science is displaying a video about the winner of season six, Mohamad al-Hossani, and his work, including the efficient solar energy system called ‘Taqatec’. Al-Hossani is on-site to give a short talk about his journey.
The pop-up innovation booth also asks the general public to tap into their inner innovator and respond to the following question:“If I could invent anything to solve a problem that would help the Arab world I would invent a …”The ideas will be shared on social media for people to vote and jury members, like Yousef Saleh, are involved and will be selecting the winning idea.
The winner with the ‘Most Innovative’ idea will receive a goodie bag with tech products. Everyone who takes part in the competition will also have their entry shared with the Stars of Science advisers in case they fit the application criteria to pitch at the casting for season eight.