Dr. Laila Al-Hayas, Acting Executive Director of the Monitoring and Innovation Sector at the Department of Community Development, stated: "World Creativity and Innovation Day is a global occasion in which we celebrate the importance of these two important concepts, which are a real asset for the nations in the twenty-first century, in terms of their vital role in motivating societies to find innovative solutions to social issues. Creativity is the key to success, and innovation is the gateway for the world’s peoples to a prosperous and sustainable future.”
Regarding the new training program, Al-Hayas added that the Department's Social Innovation Team has developed a program that brings together the most important global practices in the field of design and creative thinking in various global entities, most notably the British Council for Design, Stanford University, and IDEO. The program’s implementation will take approximately 3 weeks, and its first phase will include the Department's employees with the aim of providing them with the basic tools, contributing to the production of creative ideas that address various challenges and issues in the community. It will also provide them with the basic skills needed to design joint solutions along with the beneficiaries. She noted that the top 3 innovative solutions will be selected by employees in order to be piloted, applied, and have their impact measured.
Al-Hayas added that the second phase of the training program will be expanded to include employees in the social sector in Abu Dhabi, in line with the role of the Department of Community Development as the entity responsible for developing, organizing, and implementing social programs in the Emirate. This will create an environment concerned with social innovations to deal with the challenges facing all segments of society.
The Acting Executive Director of the Monitoring and Innovation Sector pointed out that, in order to realize the directives and visions of our wise leadership, and as a body responsible for the social sector in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the Executive Director of the Department of Monitoring and Innovation considered the establishment of the "Monitoring and Innovation Sector", where social innovation considers the realization of ideas in a scientific and systematic manner, transforming them into social practices that aim to meet current needs and requirements in a different way that is compatible with societal variables.
Al-Hayas added: “Believing in the importance of social innovation, we have prepared a descriptive research paper titled ‘Unlocking the Potential of Social Innovation,’ which aims to highlight the role of social innovation as an important tool in addressing the various social challenges. In addition, it will contribute to identifying innovative solutions by integrating social science with technology, to ensure that solutions are provided to address these reality challenges, thus achieving the desired sustainable goals.”
Al-Hayas pointed out that the research paper was the preparatory start for organizing a series of dialogues on social innovation during this year. The first dialogue workshop has been recently organized under the slogan, "Social Challenges - Tangible Effects", succeeding in attracting more than 1,700 participants from various social segments, since the topic is a new one that will significantly contribute to raising awareness about the importance of social innovation towards social issues, and creating innovative solutions.