QATAR Scientific Club’s team of amateur inventors have won a gold, a silver and two bronze medals at the 2nd International Fair Middle East 2008 held in Kuwait from November 9-13. A total of 154 inventors from 35 countries including the USA, Canada, China, France and Germany participated at the event with 187 inventions. Presenting the club’s achievements, Qatar Scientific Club (QSC) general secretary Hassan Abdullah al- Abdullah said Qatar’s Hashim Mohamed al-Sada came first in the clean energy contest, Rashid Hussein Rahimi came second for his entry of an alert system for deaf drivers in the people with special needs category and Rashid Ali Ibrahim won two bronze medals for the display of a device that sends text messages to parents’ mobile phones when children exceed the speed limit, in the safety group, as well as a glove that lights up when a policeman raises his hand to control traffic. The Qatari inventors displayed seven items at the international event. Rashid Ibrahim participated with four displays, two of which did not win. Ibrahim said the QSC team was surprised at the participation of major international companies, and professional inventors who had a record of more than 70 inventions. “QSC won a gold medal despite these high profile inventors and this is very remarkable,” he said. Rahimi, the silver medal winner, explained that his display consisted of sound sensors placed inside the car. The deaf driver is alerted by a board which light up in front of him, when it senses a car honking. Al-Sada the gold medal winner, said his display showed a solar power system for a fully equipped camp. He explained that a mat of solar cells placed on top of a big tent and connected to one battery with two wires, could light up the whole camp and provide electricity to run a heater, air conditioners, a television, home theatre, 10 laptops and mobile phone chargers. The system’s cost is only QR 250,000 for a 50 member camp. Al-Sada said it took two individuals only five minutes to install it. He also pointed out that his system solved the many problems a generator can cause including the noise pollution. Speaking to Gulf Times, al-Sada said that the idea for a solar energy powered camp emerged after he became aware of the problems caused by generators during camping that is popular among Qataris. It was inspired by the “Green Qatar” goal set by HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. He was offered a deal by one of Kuwait’s development banks to adopt and manufacture the system. “I refused as I want to offer my invention to Qatar,” he said. Al-Sada explained that his winning display was his graduation project. He said his project was funded by Kahramaa where he works. He added that Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Qatar Development Bank have expressed interest in helping inventors. GT

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