Government Summit to highlight innovation in education as key to development

•    Global experts to discuss future of education and major challenges

Dubai, February 7, 2015: Encouraging creativity and innovation in schools and education sector in general, presents an unprecedented challenge in the government and academic levels, highlighting the need to find mechanisms to shift to smart education beyond the classic concept of the learning process. The third Government Summit, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, will therefore focus on promoting innovation in schools and educational institutions, as leading experts from around the world gather for the Summit in Dubai from February 9 to 11, 2015.

Highlighting the future of education and its key role in supporting the innovation process, the Summit will host His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, on the third day in a session to discuss ‘Innovation in Education’.

In addition to this major session, Huang Wu Yi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education in South Korea, will deliver a keynote speech on the first day of the Government Summit under the title ‘Education, the driving force for the development of Korea’. In the session, Wu Yi will explain how innovation and excellence in the education field fast-tracked the process of development and modernization in his country.

The Government Summit will explore possibilities in the education sector further through panel discussions and round tables to highlight it as a key element in stimulating creativity and promoting talents and innovation. Sir Ken Robinson, a renowned education and creativity specialist, will try to answer a number of questions in this area during the session ‘How Schools Kill Creativity’.

Over the past years, Sir Ken Robinson has discussed on several occasions the need to create an education system that nurtures creativity and innovation rather than killing them. He has emphasized the fact that all over the world education is viewed science at the top priority, followed by social sciences and humanities, while arts and music are placed at the bottom of the pyramid. He argues that the educational process in schools is limited to the idea of academic achievement that can enable students to enter undergraduate studies. With such an approach, educators have been killing creativity in most students, pushing them to learn what is solely required for them to join the market.

Jim Shelton, Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Education, Dino Varkey, CEO GEMS, and Anant Agarwal, CEO Edx, will also discuss a number of issues related to the development of education, focused on ‘The Future of Online Education’.

On the third day of the Summit, UAE University will organize a forum for the heads of universities from the Gulf and Arab universities in which they will discuss innovation in higher education by addressing the most important global practices in this field. In addition, the forum will discuss topics related to research policies and modern trends in the area of patents and the mechanism of promoting innovation among university students. Universities from countries in the region, including Egypt, Sudan, Morocco, Iraq, will take part in the forum.

The third edition of the Government Summit will be attended by more than 3000 participants. On the occasion, over 100 high-profile speakers, including world leaders, decision-makers, ministers, CEOs, thought leaders in government innovation, government officials and experts, will share ideas and visions on the future of government services, taking part in more than 50 interactive sessions.