chairman of WISE QF - Web platform offers enriched content

From - http://www.tehrantimes.com

The Chairman of WISE Qatar Foundation addressed the 3rd World Innovation Summit for Education about the theme and especial programs of WISE 2011.

Following is the full text of Chairman of Abdulla bin Ali Al Thani’s speech to the WISE.

It is an honour to welcome you to the 2011 World Innovation Summit for Education which we in Qatar are once again proud to host. WISE began in 2009 as a flagship initiative of Qatar Foundation, under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, to create a collaborative platform for education innovators and stakeholders, and to advance the cause of education internationally under our enduring maxim of ‘Building the Future of Education.’

As distinguished individuals from over 100 countries, you bring to WISE a diversity of perspectives and experience, a collective strength that is our greatest resource. Innovation arises from your interactions and collaboration. I am confident that the boldly innovative approaches we explore here at WISE can address the critical challenges in education and bring about positive change.

We have come a long way in three years. The first exploratory year of WISE produced many stimulating and promising ideas. As the first round of the WISE Awards for innovative education practice demonstrated, WISE is action-oriented. In its second year WISE put new initiatives into effect and our international mission expanded. WISE partnered with Euronews to launch Learning World, a documentary series of weekly TV programs on education. The WISE Program for Education Leadership held its first seminar for newly appointed university presidents, and we began building bridges with other major education-related conferences and events.

In this third year, I believe WISE has reached maturity through various structured programs. In addition to a third round of WISE Awards for innovative on-the-ground educational projects, Qatar Foundation launched the annual WISE Prize for Education, created to raise public awareness, and the first major international prize of its kind to reward an individual or a team for an outstanding, world- class contribution to the field. This year’s high point will be the announcement of the first Laureate, who will receive a gold medal and $500,000.

We have continued to build bridges with other global conferences throughout the year, including with ECOSOC (the United Nations Economic and Social Council), in Geneva in July. And the findings of our Haiti Task Force - a collaborative venture to form recommendations for rebuilding Haiti’s education system following the 2010 earthquake – will be reported at the Summit. This year, we also commissioned a book, Innovation in Education: Lessons from Pioneers around the World, drawing on the lessons and experience of the WISE Awards projects from around the globe, and including some of the finalists. The book will be presented at WISE 2011.

I am proud to note also that we launched a new WISE collaborative web platform, announced earlier this year, that offers online access to enriched content, including best practices and news. Most important, and as many of you have already discovered, the site is fully interactive, providing social networking tools to enable our community to grow, collaborate and share experience and knowledge throughout the year. The site serves as the focal point for the WISE community.

The theme of WISE 2011 is ‘Changing Societies, Changing Education.’ With its unique, multi-sectoral approach, WISE will explore and debate how innovation and collaboration can build education systems that are more responsive to current and future needs. We will address the challenges ahead, and consider how new knowledge and technologies can shape a better world. This year, a larger group of learners will bring their diverse and unique perspectives on education to WISE as participants in Workshops and Debates, and as presenters, bloggers, and interviewers.

New session formats have been designed for greater interactivity, reflecting a heightened interest in how we discuss key topics. A dedicated networking device will be made available, and you will have more networking opportunities to help gain best advantage from the great variety of content the Summit offers. WISE is your personal platform for discovery and innovation in education; we hope these improvements will enhance your experience.

I would like to thank our Partners: Agence universitaire de la Francophonie; Association of Commonwealth Universities; Institute of International Education; International Association of University Presidents; RAND Corporation; and UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. My thanks also to our private-sector Sponsors for their much-appreciated support: Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil and Microsoft.

I am delighted that, this year, WISE is taking place in a newly completed venue, the Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC). I hope you enjoy your stay in Doha and the company of your friends and colleagues. I have no doubt that, over the coming days, there will be some highly stimulating debates and opportunities for networking, collaboration and the birth of new, action-oriented ideas and projects in education.

With best wishes,

Abdulla bin Ali Al Thani, Ph D

Chairman of WISE Qatar Foundation.