MiSK Foundation honored with Dubai knowledge award

Winners of the $1 million (Dh3.67m) Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Knowledge Award were honored during the opening ceremony of the fourth Knowledge Summit on Tuesday.

The much-anticipated award, went to MiSK Foundation, which specializes in developing educational institutions and supporting scientific research, and to Hiroshi Komiyama, Chairman, Mitsubishi Research Instititute, Wendy Kopp, Founder of Teach For America and CEO/Co-founder of Teach for All.

MiSK Foundation — founded by Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Bin Abdul Aziz — is a non-profit devoted to promoting education and leadership among young Saudis to shape a bright future for the kingdom.

“The Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Award is a world-class event bearing the name of a great leader. It has been instrumental in amplifying Dubai’s efforts and cementing its pioneering role in developing the knowledge industry, not only in the emirate, but also in the region and the world,” said Jamal Bin Huwaireb, CEO of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) and Secretary General of the Award.

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Last year, MISK Foundation had won the prize of Arab Social Media Influencers for community service category due to its great efforts in social communication.

Initiatives for youth

“Knowledge is vital in this world,” said Ohoud Alarfaj, project manager at the MiSK Foundation.

“We’ve done a lot of initiatives towards encouraging the youth in Saudi and globally in education, media, culture and technology. We have scholarships for Saudi and international youth with Cisco, Bloomberg and many high-level companies and educational institutes to provide scholarships and high quality education for the new generation.”

Youth constitute more than 50 per cent of the Saudi population. “We know the future is the youth as they will be the leaders,” she said. “So we have to focus on how to empower them and (help) them gain the knowledge and skills they will need in the future to lead to more sustainable development.”