Twenty-four projects from 16 Arab countries participated in Intel Business Challenge MENA 2014 award ceremony held on Sept. 3 in Manama, described as the capital of entrepreneurship and Arab creativity for the year 2014, with the support of Gov. Sheikh Hisham bin Abdulrahman bin Mohammed Al Khalifa,

This year featured 3,700 project submissions from some of the most creative and innovative students and graduates from different universities across the MENA. The competing projects were of high standard and covered several technical and scientific fields.

The Intel Business Challenge seeks to foster entrepreneurship among university students, support innovative ideas across different technical and scientific fields, and use these ideas to build successful businesses, which would positively impact the society at large.

All 24 participating teams received an extensive three-day capacity building program in Bahrain under the mentorship of the UNIDO Arab International Center for Entrepreneurship and Investment with the support of 14 experts.

At the end of the award ceremony, the top 4 winner projects were announced to join the other young entrepreneurs from around the world and compete at Intel Global Challenge in Silicon Valley in November.

The winner projects are as follows: First prize winner was Vound project from the UAE, second prize winner Stamina- Momkin project from Bahrain, third prize winner Plaze project from Lebanon and fourth prize winner IES-Intelligent Educational System project from Egypt.

“We deeply appreciate Intel's choice to select Manama to host the challenge award ceremony, especially that Manama has been named the Arab Capital for Entrepreneurship & Innovation for 2014. We also extend our thanks to our partners in this challenge, especially the Arab Thought Forum, the General Federation of Arab Chambers of Commerce, and MENA Investment Center," stated Hashim Hussein, head of UNDIO ITPO/AICEI, the official host of the challenge.