Carrying a smart device such as a BlackBerry, iPhone or iPad may be a matter of convenience or status today, but in the coming years it is likely to become a necessity.

With quality of life improving around the globe, and people’s expectations of their gadgets continually growing, there is a need to have hi-tech computing, communication, data gathering and diagnostics at one’s fingertips.

Providing ever-greater functionality, energy efficiency and speed requires further development and innovation in microsystems, with a focus on nanotechnology – and to that end my research group at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology is using nano-fabrication to investigate novel materials and structures for smart devices.

One of the major challenges relates to energy. The more we demand of our gadgets, the thirstier they are for power. Current devices need regular recharging from the mains – which is inconvenient, limiting and not cost-effective.

A potential solution lies in solar energy. Not only would this be free, it would make it easier to use the technology in remote or underdeveloped regions that lack regular domestic electricity supplies.

We are exploring thin-films and novel materials that could make this more readily available.

My research group is focusing on novel nano-electronic and photonic devices. This past summer, two of my students have gained hands-on experience of clean-room nano-fabrication.

One of them made silicon-germanium-based solar cells at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Germanium has useful optical properties and has been in use in photonics for some time. It allows more of the light spectrum to be captured, yielding more power.

Integrating it into existing silicon-based and complementary metal oxide silica-based devices may yield a more efficient high-performance device.

Research is focusing on growing germanium layers on cheap substrates, while fixing its currently higher rate of carrier charge leakage caused by the smaller band gap of the element.

Another master’s student worked on fabricating nanoparticle-based flash memory chips at Turkey’s new National Nanotechnology Research Centre, Unam. These chips operate at much lower voltages than existing memory and so use less power.

The experience our students are gaining in microsystems is vital to local fabrication of new devices which, in turn, is the key to any advanced microsystems research. Experience and expertise in clean-room work will allow them to make the most of Masdar’s own clean room, the only one in the region.

Already we are working on exploring and creating more novel structures – for example, multi-junction, quantum-well, nano-wire, nano-particle-based solar cells.

This research could make solar-powered microprocessing more efficient. The ability to make novel structures and to harness the properties of novel materials could lead to handheld gadgets that take their energy from the sun and use that free power for high-speed processors that can handle services such as communications, health diagnostics and data-gathering.

That would not only be an improvement on today’s iPad-type gadgets, but could be of great benefit to programmes that work to improve health care, access to information and education of impoverished communities.

Instead of trying to get unwieldy and limited laptops to such areas, you can instead send handheld devices that are far more capable and need no mains supply.

And as we create more compact and more complex gadgets, the need to understand electrical and physical processes and structures at a nano-scale becomes critical to efficiency and functionality.

The equipment and expertise at the Masdar institute microsystems department will allow us to work at the nano-scale to ensure efficiency in storage and energy transfer.

With Masdar institute’s clean-room facility we have the ability to make Abu Dhabi the centre of nano-technology in the region, and we are excited for its future.

Dr. Ammar Nayfeh is an assistant professor of microsystems engineering at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/science/rays-of-hope-for-more-powerful-smart-devices

Here in the UAE we hear so much about the future of my home country – our Rulers’ vision and the growth and development it entails.

Less audible are the thoughts and feelings of the young UAE nationals who will help to lead the country’s development tomorrow.

As one of the new wave of UAE-educated technical graduates, I’d like to share my rationale for choosing to be part of the country’s knowledge economy ambitions.

Two years ago, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in software engineering. Then, my aim was to gain further skills and begin a successful career. My concern, like that of many young graduates, was that I would only be able to find such an opportunity overseas.

I did not want to have to leave my country to pursue education as was done by so many Emiratis before me. The UAE is my home as it has been the home of my ancestors.

I wanted my own young son to grow up knowing of his heritage and benefiting from the beauty of family and culture.

When I heard of a new research institution being opened in Abu Dhabi, I was curious to see if it truly was offering a world-class educational experience. Would it really help me to become a competitive and professional engineer who could hold my own in local or international companies?

A visit to the campus convinced me this university was focused clearly on training technical professionals in fields that the leadership was developing.

I enrolled in the engineering systems management course because it combined engineering with management – the former being my own intellectual passion, while the latter relates to a great economic need.

With the country’s many large and complex development projects, there is a huge need for engineers trained in strategy, operations and systems thinking.

During my master’s degree studies I focused my research on the search for ways to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from petroleum refineries, an important issue for all petroleum producing economies.

I presented my research at the World Future Energy Summit and made it the focus of my graduate thesis.

Now, having graduated, I am back at the point of assessing what to do next. For me, the answer has been to study further and so I have enrolled for a doctorate at the Masdar Institute.

By learning how to do applied operational research for mathematical optimisation that solves real world problems, one becomes empowered with a tool that can help solve many problems, such as optimal planning and scheduling.

The Government has identified nine pillars of the Emirate’s social, political and economic future. Two of them – building a knowledge-based economy and making the most of the UAE’s and Abu Dhabi’s resources – are directly related to Masdar Institute’s focus and my own PhD studies.

With the work that is being done today, I am confident my 2-year-old son will grow up in a UAE with a diversified, knowledge-based economy in which a highly educated population from a mixed background pool their experience and loyalty towards advancing this community.

I also hope he will receive the education and training he needs to join one of the critical industries, where he can accomplish great things without compromising future generations’ welfare or his ancestors’ legacy.

With each year, I am optimistic that more and more of my Emirati brothers and sisters will join me in advanced technical studies.

I urge them to look closely at what our country has accomplished so far in its brief modern history for inspiration to help to develop the country further.

They should see also they are being given every opportunity to contribute to its future with education, training, internships, placement – anything that can help them reach their own potential.

The future will only be as bright as the minds of today’s youth. We must all do our best to give back to the country that gave us so much, and to preserve and build on what Sheikh Zayed started.

Noura Ahmed Sultan Al Dhaheri is among the inaugural graduates from the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. She will be pursuing her doctorate at Masdar Institute this autumn
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/masdar-brings-opportunity-to-help-shape-future 

Meeting developed-world expectations of lifestyle and green landscaped beauty in desert cities poses a particular challenge in places like Abu Dhabi.

Water is scarce, so we need innovative, practical, and efficient systems and practices. We can borrow from advanced horticulture – using salt-tolerant plants, for example – to reduce demand. Even then, we still need a reliable, healthy and sustainable stream of water.

Abu Dhabi has managed to provide that through innovative water-treatment systems like high-capacity desalination. That, though, uses a lot of energy.

In a more limited manner, Abu Dhabi has used less energy-intensive processes to change waterborne waste from domestic, commercial and industrial activity into non-potable water. The UAE ranks as one of the leading nations in the world in treated waste-water reuse.

Abu Dhabi recently introduced its first indigenous regulations for treated waste water. The rules, based on World Health Organisation best practices and other precedents in local and international law, define the amount of microbes, chemicals and other parameters allowed in recycled water and biosolids.

Implementing these new regulations requires a deeper understanding of the risks of residual contaminants in treated water, which is commonly used in cooling towers, municipal irrigation and firefighting.

A quantitative assessment of the risk of long-term exposure to contaminants present in the environment determines environmental standards in much of the developed world. Without this assessment exercise, the link between public health and environment quality remains uncertain.

The new regulations require the treated waste-water provider or disposal licensee – the company that turns waste water into recycled water – to develop a safety plan for various end users that includes an environmental risk assessment.

While the general guidelines are based on those used elsewhere, when it comes to the actual potential impacts of the UAE’s treated waste water on a given population or profession, we need precise information specific to local-usage patterns, climate, lifestyle and work patterns.

By studying the potential impact of treated waste water, and drawing up guidelines for its use, the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology’s water and environmental engineering programme is hoping to answer questions such as: How can a work lifetime of exposure to treated water potentially affect a fireman’s health? What could playing in a lawn sprinkler mean for a child with compromised immunity?

Do common painkillers and antibiotics remain in treated water, and could they affect the environment or people’s health?

Can treated waste water be used in more ways to save on energy? Can the byproducts of disinfection practices, many of which are suspected carcinogens, cause significant harm over prolonged exposure?

Our project aims to articulate a plan to characterise regional recycled water, evaluate toxicity, develop a framework for determining end-use based on potential for human exposure and develop recommendations for recycled water evaluation based on human health risk.

Having a detailed methodology for assessing the potential risks will give the government the information it needs to draw up guidelines that allow the emirate to make the best use of its wastewater while limiting its potential harm.

The benefits are huge. Water consumption, and particularly desalination, forms a large part of the UAE’s overall ecological footprint.

By reusing waste water, Abu Dhabi’s need to desalinate is reduced. Not only that, the research could potentially unlock further uses for treated waste water.

It could also help other sustainable cities of the future. Water reuse standards vary according to what the water will be used for. By looking at the whole water cycle it is likely that future sustainable cities like Masdar could use treated waste water as normal municipal water after additional treatment, as Singapore already does to a degree.

Unfortunately, water reuse standards are based primarily on the likelihood of it carrying disease, rather than containing residual chemicals.

As the concept of eco-friendliness becomes more defined and enforced, governments and regulators everywhere will be looking for new rules based on latest data and research.

And it is only fitting that as an emirate that leads in waste-water reuse, Abu Dhabi should contribute to the scientific understanding and regulation of that necessary resource.

Dr. Farrukh Ahmad is an assistant professor in water and environmental engineering at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/technology/masdar-institute-project-to-refine-uses-of-waste-water 

Mankind’s need to move people and goods may be our biggest single source of the carbon emissions causing global climate change. While the transport sector is estimated to contribute 28 to 30 per cent of US and European greenhouse emissions, in the UAE it may be as much as 35 per cent.

Making transport more sustainable for the environment is a major challenge for governments and industry across the world.

The basic concept of modern transport machines was designed long ago, before humanity had to worry about energy security or global climate change. Vehicles are still metal structures propelled by combustion engines – and that is unlikely to change any time soon.

So the question being asked by scientists today is, given those parameters, how can we make transport less carbon-intensive?

There are two clear answers. One is to use fuel that does not generate so much carbon dioxide – like electricity or biofuels.

The other, less obvious solution is to reduce vehicles’ fuel consumption by changing the basic components of the craft. Lighter crafts use less fuel, and expel less carbon. Reducing the weight of a car by 10 per cent makes it six to eight per cent less thirsty. Over the life of a vehicle, almost three quarters of the energy it consumes is used for driving (most of the rest is used in manufacture). Making vehicles lighter will lead to significant fuel savings.

Achieving this requires improving the basic materials. To cut the most weight, one should target its heaviest component – generally the outer body of the vehicle.

But the body frame is a necessary part of the vehicle that cannot be compromised. Any replacement material must be lighter while remaining equally strong and safe.

The way to do this is with advanced lightweight alloys in place of the steel components of a vehicle. Candidates include certain alloys of aluminium, magnesium and titanium.

In the past, the challenge has been the alloys’ limited qualities compared with steel. Industry has struggled to mould them into the desired shapes while maintaining resilience. They also tend to be harder to work with; unlike steel, they cannot be made at room temperature – which has in the past made them more costly to produce. Scientists must therefore come up with better ways to shape and fabricate these alloys while keeping the price down.

Researchers at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology are now working to do just that. They have embarked on research into friction stir welding and superplastic forming technologies that may not only be able to provide Abu Dhabi’s fledgling aviation sector a huge competitive edge, but could also greatly reduce transport’s contribution to climate change.

Friction stir technology allows the joining and processing of materials that are hard to join and process with conventional methods. Invented in the 1990s, it has still yet to be explored from all angles, meaning there are huge opportunities to develop it further.

One of our recent graduates focused his master’s project on developing a numerical model for friction stir welding that can predict the properties of a material after undergoing the process. Such a model allows the effect of different techniques to be investigated more easily, using computer simulation.

As previous research into friction stir welding has been largely based on experimental results – which is both costly and time-consuming – the model has great potential benefits for industry.

Superplastic forming, meanwhile, is a shape-forming process that uses pressurised gas to form sheet metals into a single die. It offers many advantages over conventional forming operations, allowing lighter and more complex components to be produced.

Many challenges remain, though. The process is done at elevated temperatures and is very complicated, making it hard to predict and optimise – critical for industrial application.

Having a predictive tool model is extremely important, which is why Masdar Institute’s researchers are working on developing just such tools, to simulate and thereby optimise the superplastic forming process.

In both cases, the Masdar Institute is creating a research and development infrastructure and expertise in sustainable manufacturing and advanced materials processing. In time, the findings can be extended to other important applications such as advanced heat exchangers, fuel cells and biomedical implants.

That way, the institute hopes to make a worthy contribution to Abu Dhabi’s goal of developing its aviation, aerospace and advanced metals industries, while helping to make transportation more sustainable worldwide.

Dr. Marwan Khraisheh is the dean of engineering at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology and professor of the mechanical engineering programme.

One of the hardest things to do is make a meaningful change in your life. Every New Year’s we declare our resolutions for everything from weight loss to money saving to recycling.

Most do not last longer than a few weeks. It is no wonder, then, that a whole self-help industry is dedicated to helping people turn good intentions into positive action. Still, most of us find it very difficult to improve our habits.

Now imagine trying to bring about that sort of personal behavioural change on a massive, nationwide scale, where every man, woman and child makes a change towards something better.

Difficult, yes – but not impossible. Australia managed to drastically reduce its skin cancer rates through its “Slip-Slop-Slap” campaign, which taught a whole generation to “slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, and slap on a hat” before exposing their skin to the harmful rays of the sun. But for all the successful changes brought about through marketing, campaigning and legislation, there are many more small but equally important personal behaviour changes that remain a challenge to implement.

Just think of your own life – how many times have you promised yourself that you will go to the gym regularly, or spend more time with your children, or even just turn the lights out in empty rooms of your house. And how often have you actually fulfilled that promise? Not often. But we hope that will soon change.

Today we all have access to some amazing tools that previous generations could only have dreamed of. The average UAE adult uses a computer and a mobile phone, and many carry smart phones. We have access to the kind of computing capacity that in the past would run an entire office or company.

Smartphones in particular offer amazing potential for application programming and data collection. It is that potential that my team at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology is hoping to tap into to help UAE residents meet their goals for sustainable living.

We are researching how modern mobile and sociometric technologies can help provide unprecedented access to real-time data about collective human behaviour, such as people’s movement patterns, or their social interaction.

My counterpart at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor Sandy Pentland, has shown how mobile phone data – patterns of location and communication – can be used to predict whether a person has a fever, influenza, stress or even mild depression.

Technologies and systems like these can help us understand collective behaviour – and influence it. My current project aims to develop intelligent distributed software that can influence collective behaviour with a goal to help people use resources more efficiently.

Unlike previous work in this area, we hope to take advantage of the structure of the modern social network in order to effect behavioural change.

Our project spans game theory, network theory, computer science, and social science and uses techniques like theoretical modelling, system development, and empirical experimentation. The aim is to develop a set of technologies that can be used to inspire collective sustainable behaviours such as reducing electricity use.

We believe that by using today’s wired lifestyle, we can help people make the kind of changes they feel are good and worthwhile. For instance, linking personal technology tools (smartphones, for example) to our system lets us analyse their behaviour according to their desired goal and then set up a friendly competition to help them reach that goal.

Users could be shown their own behaviour (like driving a car to work) along with a comparison to the alternatives (such as taking a bus) engaged in by their friends and family. Simple social rewards like bragging rights are “won” by those with especially good behaviours or those who find new “greener” behaviours.

Science and common sense both say that tacit social incentives such as increased status among people whom you spend the most time with is a stronger impetus to change than either information feedback or explicit rewards.

This is already being done in a limited way through projects such as the one by the OPower company, which provides feedback to electricity consumers by showing on their bills how their energy use compares with similar-sized households of their peers. Their approach has proved to be effective in reducing consumption.

Further developing these sorts of technologies and systems can further the UAE’s sustainability in a number of ways. One of the most widely anticipated uses is smart-grid sensor information displays, which can show electricity users how much energy each specific appliance is using, to help them make better choices.

Another potential application in mobile phones uses sensors and self-reporting to provide positive feedback to the phone user on their sustainable transport choices.

A third application is the creation of programs that help co-ordinate sustainable behaviours like car-sharing, by utilising user preferences, destinations from GPS logs and calendars while accounting for time, fuel use, and environmental and cognitive costs, to help users effortlessly make green transport choices.

Harnessing the agility, adaptability and ease of use of today’s high-tech gadgets, Masdar Institute hopes to help Abu Dhabi reach its goals for sustainability and renewable energy use.

Dr. Iyad Rahwan is an assistant professor in computing and information science at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/technology/why-not-a-phone-app-for-sustainability 

Today, the first class of scientists and engineers will graduate from the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.

It also happens to be World Environment Day, a fitting coincidence with the debut of graduates educated in five master’s courses developed to address the issues of climate change and sustainability.

The institute shows today its commitment to helping Abu Dhabi’s economic transformation into a knowledge economy.

To many, bringing about that change seems an impossible mountain to move. And yet that is what is being done, with major investments in advancing education from the primary through to postgraduate level.

Other infrastructure is being put in place to develop the complete value chain.

We will need innovation, entrepreneurship and start-ups – hence the setting up of the Technology Development Committee.

And the Environmental Council, the Masdar Initiative and several other bodies have been set up to develop green enterprises.

The Masdar Institute will be a critical component. Since its academic operations began in 2009, it has focused on both the physical and human infrastructure needed – as evidenced by its first class of graduates, many of whom have already been recruited by industrial enterprises in Abu Dhabi.

But this is just a start. We have a long way to go to provide the necessary manpower and ideas that generate entrepreneurship and technology focused small enterprises.

To that end we are planning our next phase of growth.

We will expand and improve our eight master’s courses in three ways.

We will beef up the existing academic programmes with a greater range of research and study tracks.

And we will set up centres of research excellence, funded primarily by both local and international companies, to pursue research of mutual academic and industrial benefit.

For example, we are currently working with Irena, the Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency, to establish a centre for energy, technology and policy for developing economies, to help them build the energy supply infrastructure they need.

Thirdly, we will launch of a master’s degree in Practice Engineering, which we believe is the first of its kind in the region. Modelled on a programme at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it will place students in industry for at least one semester. That should help align their interests with the needs of business in Abu Dhabi – and increase their employment prospects. It will also be the first course at the Masdar Institute to allow working professionals to study part-time.

The institute is also expanding its internship and outreach programmes. This summer we will offer internships for UAE undergraduate students, who will work with graduate students and academics on their projects.

This academic year will also see the completion of our new campus block, allowing us to take on more students and set up new labs with some of the finest equipment in the world.

All of this, though, pales in comparison to our most critical mission – providing real-world solutions to issues of sustainability.

As our first cohort steps out of the Institute and into the world of work, Masdar Institute will be seeing its ideals put into practice.

It is my hope that our inaugural commencement marks a new era not only for the Masdar Institute, but for Abu Dhabi as a whole.

Dr. Fred Moavenzadeh is president of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/technology/first-class-graduates-from-masdar-institute

The upcoming graduation of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology’s first batch of students will be an important occasion not only for our young institution, but for the UAE as a whole.

The institute was set up to address Abu Dhabi’s dual aims of becoming a knowledge economy and a developer of technologies, policies and systems for energy markets of the future. Today we believe we are on track to meet both these goals.

Since classes began in 2009 the institute has focused on the search for solutions to Abu Dhabi’s identified needs and obstacles.

Some obstacles are based on geography. Water in the UAE is scarce and has only become more so as the country has developed – so the Masdar Institute is addressing every aspect of the water challenge, from recharge of depleted aquifers to developing new desalination technologies.

Solar power is key to meeting Abu Dhabi’s target of getting seven per cent of its energy from renewable sources. But working towards that goal has proven more difficult than expected.

It was developed on the basis of satellite mapping techniques that do not account for factors such as dust and humidity that affect our ability to capture solar energy

As a result, not only is the Masdar Institute trying to improve its solar resource maps, with remote sensing and modelling that takes environmental factors into account, we are also working on solar technologies such as mirror and panel coatings that mitigate the impact of dust on the capture of solar energy.

But whether power comes from large solar plants in the desert or small photovoltaic arrays on city rooftops, Abu Dhabi’s electric grid will have to get smarter – and so a research team is investigating the challenges of handling distributed, intermittent energy supplies, with test systems up and running in Masdar City.

Abu Dhabi’s attempts to make the best use of its desert and coastline have often been frustrated by its limited rainfall and salty soils.

Masdar Institute, with the support of the government and several corporate partners, is working on an integrated seawater agriculture system that combines aquaculture production of fish and shrimp with cultivation of the salt-tolerant plant salicornia and mangroves.

The fish and shrimp can be sold locally, while the salicornia can be harvested for an oil seed that is further processed into biofuels. The salicornia and mangroves only require sea water for irrigation and provide further benefits by acting as a natural treatment system for the wastewater from the aquaculture ponds, as well as increasing biodiversity and greening the coastline.

As the urban population of Abu Dhabi grows, it generates an enormous and increasing amount of solid and liquid waste each day.

This waste does not need to be discarded, however. It can be used as a raw material, or recycled, or even used as fuel. Projects to do all of these are under way at Masdar Institute. We are trying to make less waste, too, using nanotechnology to make cellulose-based polymers for in biodegradable food packaging.

With Abu Dhabi looking to aerospace and semiconductors to drive its growth, it needs local capacity for research and innovation.

Masdar Institute is building laboratory infrastructure and expertise in these domains. It has a group developing advanced materials for lighter, safer and more sustainable aircraft, and another investigating better ways to design and make microchips.

With all this going on, we need to be clear about our priorities. To that end, Masdar Institute is engaged with local government agencies that are laying down the policy framework that focuses on sustainability.

Projects include physical and economic modelling to investigate the future impact of energy and environmental policy, studies on innovation dynamics and the generation of new clean-tech businesses, climate change policy and its impact on the local economy, as well as comparative studies of renewable energy policies around the world.

Masdar Institute, like Abu Dhabi itself, has some lofty goals, but it has behind it committed leadership, bright minds, and dedicated individuals. As we finalise our commencement preparations, we look forward to another productive and ground-breaking year ahead.

Dr. Marwan Khraisheh is the dean of engineering at the Masdar Institute; Dr Scott Kennedy is the associate dean of research; Dr Youssef Shatilla is associate dean for academic affairs and professor of practice; Dr. Steven Griffiths is executive director of the Masdar office of institute initiatives
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/masdar-graduation-a-milestone

The recent economic crisis has caused a large amount of hardship and turmoil, both at home and abroad. However, at the same time, it has imparted a number of valuable lessons. In its wake governments around the world have been seeking to re-examine and adjust their models and perspectives on growth and prosperity. For the developed world, it is ‘back to the drawing board’ and a time for shared introspection.

However, for developing nations, this point in time presents an opportunity to move ahead in areas traditionally dominated by developed nations. As one of the richest countries in the world, the UAE in particular has, in recent times, been actively seeking to transform its economy. Where currently the focus is on capital and natural resources, the anticipation is that knowledge, technology and innovation will be the future drivers of economic growth. Central to this vision is the realization that the UAE must transition from being a mere consumer of technologies, to a net producer. If the goal of becoming a knowledge economy is to be achieved, educational institutes and industrial entities need to drastically increase the intensity and quality of indigenous research and development (R&D). Even more importantly, it is crucial that these efforts be focused and streamlined via the implementation of well-informed and timely research policies.

But in order to make those key policy and strategy decisions, one needs information. We live in the Information Age so one would assume that is one part of the puzzle that is easily acquired. But in actuality, we suffer from an information overload. Data is being collected and shared all over the world, via universities, independent studies, governments, statisticians, industry, non-governmental organizations and think tanks. Research updates are conveyed through a large variety of channels and tracking these sources of information is a hugely time-consuming and imperfect process. The more mankind seeks to understand the world he lives in, the more data we will have to process to reach that understanding. Even the most knowledgeable experts would find it difficult to follow the rapidly increasing pace of research being conducted worldwide.

At the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, in close collaboration with partners at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, our team of scientists has been working on research which directly addresses this critically important need – to ensure data is processed and understood in a more efficient manner.

We realize that human decision making is an inherently subjective process, and even scientists and experts rely on intuition and internalized knowledge to arrive at investment decisions. Once made, it can also be difficult to document the reasons for such decisions, and judgments which were sound a year ago may become irrelevant if the circumstances behind them change sufficiently. A further concern is the difficulty in obtaining the services of highly qualified experts, and the extremely high associated costs. Researchers seeking to maximize their impacts must ensure that their work is of practical value, and is in areas which are likely to increase in importance in the near future. Scientists also need to ensure that their work contributes to the wider development of the subject. In order for researchers and scientists to do this, they need an awareness of the broader research landscape and of industries that are related in non-obvious ways.

These factors strongly motivate the development of automatic tools for processing large amounts of information. These methods are part of a broader class of techniques known as “data mining”, and have been used to analyze data from sources as diverse as human brain signals, satellite imagery and financial information. By leveraging this technology, we have been able to scan very large science and technology databases in search of patterns and trends which allow the growth of science and technology to be monitored, and subsequently predicted. These forecasts can be used to support the formation of well-informed and timely research strategies, which in turn can magnify the impact and value of scientific and technological investments.

The tools that we have been developing address both of these points: firstly, automatically generated “maps” of technology help to provide this big picture perspective, and, secondly, statistical growth indicators have been devised to identify high-growth areas within these maps. The overall effect, we believe, is that scientists are encouraged to work in areas with the potential for the greatest impact, and
not just in areas which are personally interesting. In specific, one of our projects has been focusing on developing techniques for detecting technologies that are in the early growth phase while also improving the reliability of technology forecasting by using automatically generated keyword classifications, allowing the growth potentials of secondary technologies to be calculated into the overall potential of larger technology categories.

So, the big question: Does it work? Currently, the software that we have developed is under intensive development and is not yet suitable for use by non-technical users. However, based on our analysis, we have already been able to elucidate broad trends within fields of research, and indications are that the insights gained will be very helpful
to researchers and technologists.

Given the specific mission of the Masdar Initiative, initial efforts have focused on the field of renewable energy. Here, perhaps unsurprisingly, our data indicates that solar energy continues to be an extremely important area of research – though it is a fairly mature domain with a very large number of subordinate technologies. Accordingly, research is now looking to fine-tune and maximize productivity as it moves into more mainstream commercial industry. Another finding is that biomass is a key topic for further development. In contrast to solar energy, this technology is in the earlier stages of its developmental cycle; one the one hand, it is richer in terms of potential for innovation and discovery, while on the other hand, immediate large commercial profits are less likely.

In the end, we cannot and should not ever replace human judgment or intuition. But we can make the data assessing process easier and more effective. Tools like the one we are developing support the more subjective elements of the decision-making process and help reduce uncertainties that might arise as a result. In this way, the tools and advances of the Information Age can help to accelerate progress in all areas of research and development, and perhaps even to help solve some of the most pressing problems faced by our generation.
 

Dr. Wei Lee Woon is assistant professor in the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology Computing and Information Science Program.

The UAE not only defies expectations – a small country with big successes – it defies convention. History has no precedent for the sort of growth curve the UAE has enjoyed since its founding nearly 40 years ago.

The UAE is unique in what it is, what it has and what it aspires to be. And because of that, there is a need for a distinct approach to its development goals.

The first thing we must do is step away from the perception of the UAE as a traditional developing economy. The UAE is unique in that while it does have areas that need to be developed, it does not have scarcity of capital or an abundance of people – two features that are the hallmark of most developing nations.

Developing countries have a need to use their limited wealth and resources as efficiently and effectively as possible to provide jobs for as many citizens as they can, which typically comes about through industrialisation; specifically labour-intensive activities.

This has been the recipe for success for many countries, such as China and India, where labour-intensive activities provide employment and goods to fuel economic growth.

The UAE is an anomaly to this situation, however. While indeed, it does have crucial development targets like other developing countries, it is not resource poor and labour rich. Rather, it faces an opposite situation, where the country has a small indigenous population but a large wealth.

Therefore, the challenge is how to use the limited manpower to make the most of the country’s wealth – to not only spend it efficiently but actually grow it further and diversify the source of capital development.

This model requires a new type of investment in human capital as well as new types of employment for the UAE’s indigenous labour force. Building factories and producing goods will not be sufficient as a lone economic engine for the UAE because the domestic market is small and so many raw materials as well as manpower would have to be imported, and finished goods exported.

In response to the UAE’s unique strengths and needs, the Government has identified a critical evolutionary step for the country – to take the UAE’s current economy towards a knowledge-intensive economy with special emphasis on green technologies, as targeted in a number of government initiatives such as the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030, the Abu Dhabi Higher Education Strategic Plan and the forthcoming Abu Dhabi Environmental Plan for 2030.

These measures show that the diversification of the economy has been focused toward advanced technologies, which provide markets that are capital-intensive and require well educated, professional people who are prepared for the challenges that research and development (R&D) and entrepreneurship bring.

It also requires the establishment of mechanisms that encourage translation of that R&D into the marketplace via venture capital and start-up company formation.

Thus, higher education has been identified as the linchpin to the country’s development, enabling the UAE’s critical evolution from a developing country to a developed country with sustainable long-term growth and increasing importance and recognition.

But not all higher education is created equal and not all new technology is of the same value. The UAE must target its education focus on sectors that have the greatest potential value to its citizens for employment, to its economy for exports of knowledge capital and knowledge-based goods rather than just commodities, and to its security and prominence in the global arena.

That is why it is necessary that the UAE continue to evolve and expand its higher education in the fields of science and technology, and related R&D.

We live in an age with technology at the core of everyday life. And beyond that, there’s an ever-present market demand for better, smarter and more efficient gadgets and technologies. Mankind today is also facing one of the greatest challenges ever – global climate change.
 

The need to make our modern lives more sustainable for the planet presents a massive opportunity for science and technology to step up and create solutions to critical issues.

The market for those critical solutions is already sizeable and expected to grow, with HSBC Global estimating wider global climate change-related industries to be worth more than US$530 billion (Dh1.94 trillion) and likely to exceed $2 trillion by 2020. It should come as no surprise then that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimated in 2004 that increasing public R&D pushed up multifactor productivity – a measure of the extent to which an economy can derive GDP growth from a certain level of labour and capital – by 0.17 per cent.

This is above the 0.13 per cent increase that business R&D recorded from the same investment increase.

Some limited studies have shown that even corporate research investment, which is usually purely focused on seeking benefit for an individual company, is estimated to have substantial return to the public.

Thus the potential benefit of increasing R&D investment by the Government and the private sector in the UAE is hugely significant and obvious.

The creation of the Masdar Initiative and Masdar Institute show that the Abu Dhabi government is well aware of the critical impact of R&D.

But no one university, even one as enriched and ambitious as Masdar Institute, will be able to achieve the UAE’s knowledge economy goals on its own. The entire academic sector needs to readjust and redirect itself for this massive task.

This unprecedented strategy – to jump from being a resource-based economy to knowledge-based economy without undergoing a major industrialisation phase – requires time, resources, co-operation, commitment and innovation to achieve results.

Academia must work together with industry to commercialise the outcomes of R&D, while industry must be fostered and incentivised by government, and government must fund necessary research and development in both sectors.

And beyond that, it requires us – all of us who call the UAE home – to cherish and respect the ideals of education, excellence and innovation.

Because when we value those ideals, we will give our all in pursuit of them, and inspire our children to do the same. They will be the future scientists, entrepreneurs and thought-leaders that advance the UAE into the next phase of growth. They are our future.

Dr. Fred Moavenzadeh is president of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/uaes-future-is-not-bound-by-examples-of-history

Although the UAE’s share of women in higher education is among the highest in the world, and growing, the percentage of women who study and work in the fields of science, technology and engineering is, as in most other countries, still quite low compared with their male counterparts.

While almost three quarters of male Emirati students are enrolled in engineering, most Emirati women study the social sciences, arts or business administration. Considering the UAE’s goal of transforming itself into a knowledge economy, that is a major liability.

The country has undergone great changes in the past five decades, and its people have similarly experienced an amazing evolution. Now that Abu Dhabi is on the path to becoming a knowledge economy, the time has come once again for its residents to adapt.

By putting themselves on the cutting edge of science, technology and engineering – and more specifically, the energy sector – the women of the UAE can become pioneers and innovators not only in their own society, but for the global community as a whole.

Doing so won’t be easy. The UAE has begun the process by offering, at universities such as the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, the advanced teaching that will transform students into scientists and engineers.

But it is not as simple as “if you build it, they will come”. While the Masdar Institute boasts a relatively high female enrolment – 37 per cent – that is not enough.

Half of the higher education students in the UAE are women, so ideally at least half of all science, technology and engineering students should be women.

With a team of researchers at Masdar Institute, I have been working to identify the obstacles in the way of achieving that level of enrolment.

We recently published a report entitled “Expanding Women’s Participation in Science, Technology and Engineering: A UAE Case Study”, based on a comprehensive survey of more than 2,600 female students from 17 campuses across the nation.

Some of its conclusions were picked up by the media, especially the keenness of Emirati women to study science in order to contribute to their country.

But some of the report’s less obvious messages were neglected. In advance of a seminar on clean energy education and empowerment, known as C3E, which will take place on Wednesday at the Clean Energy Ministerial in Abu Dhabi, I’d like to share some of the critical lessons learnt from our research – lessons that can help all of us inspire Emirati women to achieve their full potential.

First, young women often get their inspiration and confidence from their social circles, seeking advice from their extended family, their friends and their parents.

When making career choices, young women usually rely on their families and on peers, as well as professionals working in their field of interest.

A girl’s mother has more influence on her education choices than her father, regardless of how educated the parents are – although the difference is diminished when both parents have a bachelor’s degree or more advanced degrees.

Once married, women usually turn first to their husbands for advice and guidance. However, Emirati women who have a female relative working in the science or technology field are twice as likely as those who do not to view those career fields as viable alternatives. And that ability to inspire is not limited to relatives – young women see female scientists and engineers in general as role models.

This is heartening; the more women there are in science, technology and engineering, the more will follow in their footsteps.

And while this may place a responsibility on the women already in those fields to reach out to their young sisters, it also suggests that each of us can help inspire Emirati girls to study science, technology and engineering by celebrating, respecting and supporting the women who went before them.

Parents, aunts, uncles and friends all have a role to play, as does the media, which needs to do more to publicise the amazing work being done by female scientists and engineers in the Gulf and around the world.

Dr. Georgeta Vidican is an assistant professor in the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology’s engineering systems and management programme and a lead author of Expanding Women’s Participation in Science, Technology and Engineering: A UAE Case Study.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/technology/inspiring-and-guiding-the-uaes-young-women-into-science-and-engineering

We often hear the term ‘ecological footprint’ in the UAE. Sadly, it isn’t because we’re generally a very green bunch. It’s because for the past few years the UAE has regularly been at or near the top of the list of countries whose residents’ ecological footprint – a measure of how much carbon is used, relative to how much is captured from the air – is the biggest.

Based on 2007 data, the UAE is rated as having an ecological footprint of 10.68 global hectares per person. If the whole world consumed at that level, we would need six more earths to regenerate the resources consumed and absorb the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by our lifestyle.

The UAE’s sturdy footprint stems from its rapid growth, which has relied largely on fossil fuels.

That has been tough to hear, but the UAE has embraced this indicator and is determined to reduce its ecofootprint.

The Al Basma Al Beeiya (Ecological Footprint) Initiative aims to incorporate the Ecofootprint indicator into policymaking.

But there are challenges. Until now the indicator has only been used retrospectively; there had been no way of testing how future policies will affect the ecofootprint.

Now a team of researchers at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology has developed a policy support tool that lets UAE policymakers define targeted policies in the electricity and water sector and determine their impact.

Policies currently being tested include the deployment of renewable energy technologies, carbon capture and storage, energy appliance standards, revised electricity tariffs, energy efficient building codes, water demand reduction, new water desalination technologies, and others.

The uniqueness of this tool is that policies can be compared directly against each other, allowing the government to prioritise. When resources are limited, knowing which measure is likely to have the greatest impact can save time, effort and money.

For instance, we’ve found one interesting comparison is the relative benefit of reducing water versus electricity demand. Initial results have shown that cutting water demand – say a 10 per cent drop in irrigation of private gardens – would reduce our carbon footprint significantly more than a 10 per cent reduction in electricity demand.

To determine this, we had to model the effect of changing water and electricity demand on the operating efficiency of the combined water and power production plants that burn natural gas.

Additional efforts are underway to examine various scenarios of power and water generating technologies, combined with demand reduction policies.

We want, too, to understand the impact of changes in consumption of different products and services.

By using data on the entire economy for the UAE or Abu Dhabi, it is possible to estimate all the indirect effects of, says switching from bottled to tap water.

By not using bottled water, all of the fuel to transport the bottles, electricity to power the bottling plant, and all other upstream inputs would be avoided.

At present, our estimates for this type of question are very rough, but they are improving as more data becomes available.

Sustainability indicators can clearly play an important role in helping policymakers understand the potential impact of policies. They are a yardstick to measure where we are and to set a target for where we want to go.

We hope that as familiarity increases, these indicators will be useful as measures such as the gross domestic product. At that point, we will truly be moving in a sustainable direction.

Dr. Scott Kennedy is associate dean for research at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology as well as an associate professor in the engineering systems and management program.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/the-tools-to-bring-change

It is well established now that mankind is facing an unparalleled challenge from global climate change and dependence on fossil fuels. Solutions to these challenges are expected to come from innovations in science, which is why so many institutions and laboratories around the world, including Abu Dhabi’s own Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, are dedicating so much of their energy to research and development. But taking ideas out of the labs and into the real world is not as simple as coming up with bright ideas. In order to really make an impact and succeed in the goal of promoting positive change, the result of critical research needs to be developed and disseminated through collaboration with academia, industry and government.

A salient example is sustainable energy generation, which is one of the biggest issues in the global sustainability discussion. At present, demand for energy services such as lighting, heating, and cooling are provided by heat, electricity and mechanical work derived primarily from the fossil energy sources. It is the combustion of these fossil sources that is responsible for 60 percent of global green house gasses. At Masdar Institute research is being carried out to develop new and innovative technologies that capture sustainable primary energy sources, such as biomass, solar and wind energy, and transform these into secondary energy carriers, such as liquid and solid fuels, that can be used to power the building, transportation, industrial, and agricultural sectors.

The goal isn’t to meet the world’s growing energy demand through the creation of esoteric energy technologies that only work well in the controlled environment of a lab. Rather new energy generation technologies need to be effectively utilized in real life. Therefore, the Institute is collaborating with aerospace and defense corporation Boeing, Abu Dhabi flagship carrier Etihad, and specialty materials company UOP Honeywell to develop saltwater agricultural systems that are indigenous to Abu Dhabi. These saltwater tolerant plants yield biomass for aviation biofuels and do not distort the global food chain, compete with fresh water resources or lead to unintended land use change.

While working with industry to come up with a cost-effective and environmentally benign biofuel is a great use of Abu Dhabi’s ready talent and expertise, it is not the only area of collaboration that may yield significant results. Even in the best case scenarios, sustainable primary energy sources will only be able to meet a portion of the world’s growing energy demands in the decades ahead. We will also need significant advances in energy efficiency to reduce the demand for energy that continues to grow. To address this need, Masdar Institute is working with Siemens to develop energy efficiency technologies that can be used in buildings and industrial settings. These systems will intelligently profile and modulate energy performance and temperature control via advanced sensors, actuators, automation, and controllers.

Another project with Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), is investigating other critical systems for energy efficiency. One aspect of this collaboration aims to develop microsystem devices capable of processing increasingly large amounts of information but with the ultra-low power requirements so as to minimize cooling requirements while still allowing for high performance computational capability, even on mobile devices. Conserving energy through smart devices and systems such as those being pursued through these two collaborations could provide another piece to the sustainability challenge.

While the aforementioned collaborations seek to tackle energy generation and conservation challenges, reducing the impact of fossil fuel based energy generation is essential as fossil fuels will play a major role in energy generation for years to come. A carbon capture and sequestration project is therefore being pursued jointly by Masdar Institute, Siemens, Masdar Carbon and the Abu Dhabi Onshore Oil Company (ADCO) to develop carbon sequestration, storage and monitoring techniques that will mitigate the environmental impacts of fossil power production.

It is not only industry that is a necessary collaborator in the energy innovation pipeline but also government. Almost every nation that has successfully established renewable energy as a significant energy sourcehas had robust government policies to promote renewable energy.

The growth of renewable energy systems in major economies in the past couple of decades has been greatest when supported by policies such as feed-in tariffs, mandatory renewable energy targets, or tax concessions for renewable energy investment. These policies are most effective if targeted to reflect available renewable energy resources, and to respond to local political, economic, and social conditions. To that end, here at home the General Secretariat of the Executive Council (GSEC), Technology Development Committee (TDC), Abu Dhabi Water and Electric Authority (ADWEA) and others are working with Masdar Institute to evaluate policy and regulation designs that will play an important role in improving the adoption and economics of renewable energy as well as attraction of private investment capital to the region.

The old adage that ‘no man is an island’ is truer today than perhaps when it was originally coined. The world we live in is globalized and our lives are interconnected. It is obvious then that solutions to the shared and complex problems posed by global climate change and sustainability will require cooperation and collaboration across many disciplines and sectors. The pioneering and groundbreaking projects of today, which are reflected in the multifaceted and interdisciplinary undertakings described here, will yield solutions to the challenges of tomorrow. It is here in Abu Dhabi that we are paving the way to this future and are lucky to be at the forefront of this wave of change.

Dr. Steve Griffiths is Executive Director of Institute Initiatives at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.