Dafas, a 15-year-old Saudi student, was awarded first prize in the Saudi Arabian Investment Authority's Most Competitive Youth Initiative contest. The award was presented at a ceremony at the Global Competitiveness Forum 2011 in Riyadh. (Courtesy photo)RIYADH: Rayan Al-Dafas, a 15-year-old Saudi boy, received 1st Prize in the Most Competitive Youth Initiative, one of the highlights of the Global Competitiveness Forum 2011 opened in Riyadh Saturday by Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of the Interior. Abdullah Amr Al-Dabbagh, Governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), which organized the four-day GCF 2011, and sponsors of the three award categories presented awards to young students from across the Kingdom. Awards were given to 30 winners in the three categories – Importance of Innovation and Competitiveness, Technology Competition and Art and Creativity. The top 10 winners from each category were awarded a trophy and a certificate. Al-Dafas, a student at Makkah School in the town of Zulfi, received an award for his idea of developing a GPS device that would help reduce traffic accidents and locate motorists lost in the desert. Microsoft, Cisco and Edge of Arabia sponsored the three categories under SAGIA's Most Competitive Youth Initiative (MCYI), which has been introduced for the first time at GCF 2011. The top three winners in each category were as follows: Rayan Al-Dafas (Zulfi), Nabil Al-Zahrani (Riyadh), and Toman Al-Thani (Khobar) were awarded first, second and third place respectively for the Importance of Innovation and Competitiveness award. Arwa Res and Rawan Al-Harbi were awarded the first and second position and A.R. Al-Assaf, A. Sharawi and Omar (Riyadh) shared the third position for the Technology Competition award while Muhammad ‘Anggi' Makki (Jeddah), Ahmad Al-Amoudi (Jeddah) and Adwa Al-Mubarak (Riyadh) were the top three winners in the Arts and Creativity category. The MCYI winners were dubbed “outstanding leaders” and the winning students will be taken on a journey to the UK and North America to further develop their skills. The winning paintings and other artwork were displayed at the GCF 2011 venue. Al-Dafas said he takes a lot of interest in computer science and would like to pursue a career as a computer programmer. “After school, I spend about three hours to learn more about computer science. I developed the idea of a GPS module device after learning about the increase in traffic accidents in the Kingdom,” he said. GCF 2011 has seen the participation of more than100 top leaders from across the world. The event has been divided into two plenary sessions “Innovation as a Means of Competitiveness” and “Innovation in Health Care”. The world leaders participating in the GCF 2011 have discussed ideas on a number of topics that have strategic importance to the Kingdom.
