Tishk International University’s 7th National Innovation Competition in Engineering (NICE2022) was held on Wednesday, May 19th, 2022, under the theme of “Targeting Smart Sustainable Innovations.”
The aim of the competition is to gather students, supervisors, practitioners, educators, and students of all Engineering Departments with interests in smart sustainable innovations from around universities in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. Invitations were sent to universities in Kurdistan and Iraq. Online registration forms were set up for each category and were closed on the 10th of May, providing the students with a chance to finalize their projects’ abstracts and ideas. The forms were later processed by the Head of Departments and acceptance or rejection emails were sent to all participants three days ahead of the competition.
This year’s edition witnessed the participation of 197 projects among its seven categories, with more than 436 students, along with the participation of more than 77 jury members and the contribution of 10 different universities from across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. The rate of participation based on the University is listed below:
Tishk International University | 161 | |
Koya unversity | 9 | |
Cihan university – Erbil | 3 | |
University of Sulaymaniyah | 6 | |
University of Kirkuk / College of Engineering | 6 | |
Newroz University | 2 | |
University of Raparin | 3 | |
Salahaddin University-College of Engineering | 2 | |
University of Mosul/ College of Engineering | 2 | |
LFU university | 2 | |
American University of Kurdistan (AUK) | 1 |
Further to this, 20 projects from five different international universities also participated in the competition and were evaluated through a virtual meeting by a special jury committee from the Mechatronics Department:
KONGU ENGINEERING COLLEGE | 1 | |
Anna University/Nehru Institute of Engineering and Technology | 10 | |
Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology | 3 | |
KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology | 1 | |
Indra Ganesan College Of Engineering | 5 | |
20 |
The participating students and the evaluating jury members were directed to the registration desks located at the main building entrance to receive their badges, lunch cards, program flow, and assigned codes for their stands.
Jury members were later invited to the Coordination Hall to receive their evaluation forms along with gift packs as a sign of appreciation for their valuable effort and participation. Few instructions were also given by Dr. Jwan Jalal, NICE 2022 Chair of the Jury Members to further clarify the evaluation process criteria.
The project evaluation process started at 10:30 AM; students demonstrated their projects to be evaluated by the jury members. All of the participating projects were evaluated according to the following criteria: Project invention ingenuity, scientific approach, clarity and thoroughness in explaining the project idea, competency, technical skills, and effort put into finishing the project.
The evaluation process was followed by the opening ceremony, which started at 11:00 AM with a welcoming speech from Dr. Abdul Samad Salahuddin Ahmad, President of Tishk International University, in which he thanked all the participating students, guests, and jury members and signified the university’s ongoing commitment to further support the development of the engineering field through more sustainable and innovative projects from its students.
Following the opening, event sponsors received “Thank you” plagues from Dr. Abdul Samad Salahuddin Ahmad in recognition of the immense support, effort, and contribution that the sponsors have generously provided in establishing a remarkable and significant event.
This was followed by a presentation from Dr. Jwan Jalal, the acting Chair of NICE2022 and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering in which he addressed the main objectives, mission, and vision of the competition, the participating categories, and the approximate number of participating students and projects. He also expressed much gratitude to all contributing parts for their valuable support towards the competition and all scientific activities in general.
Once the ribbon was cut, the project demonstration, as well as the evaluation process, began and continued until lunch break. The jury members then handed their evaluation forms to the organizing committee staff responsible for determining the winners. The overall scores of each jury given to each project were averaged and the score-tied projects were evaluated according to a specific formula used to determine the rank.
NICE2022 was concluded with the closing ceremony that took place at the main building entrance at 4:00 PM in which Dr. Abdul Samad, Head of the Mechatronics Engineering Department, gave a closing speech where he thanked all the participants for the dedication and effort put into developing their projects, and in turn making the event a great success. The top 3 winners of all seven participating categories and international winners were announced and were awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals, and prize money as well as certificates endowed by the two Vice Presidents of TIU, Dr. Mehmet Ozdemir.