7th National Innovation Competition in Engineering (NICE2022)

Tishk International University’s 7th National Innovation Competition in Engineering (NICE2022) was held on Wednesday, May 19th, 2022, under “Targeting Smart Sustainable Innovations”. The competition aimed to gather students, supervisors, practitioners, educators, and students of all engineering fields around universities in Kurdistan and Iraq interested in smart, sustainable innovations.

Invitations were sent to universities in Kurdistan and Iraq. Online registration forms were set up for each category and closed on May 10th, giving the students a chance to finalise their projects’ abstracts and ideas. The Head of Departments later processed the forms, and acceptance or rejection emails were sent to all participants three days before 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
TOTAL 20

The participating students and the evaluating jury members were directed to the registration desks 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 and gift packs to appreciate their valuable effort and participation. Dr Jwan Jalal also stated several instructions, 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 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 to finish the project.
The evaluation process was followed by the opening ceremony, which started at 11:00 AM with a welcoming speech by Dr Abdul Samad Salahuddin Ahmad, President of Tishk International University. He thanked all 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” plaques from Dr Abdul Samad Salahuddin Ahmad to recognise the immense support, effort, and contribution that the sponsors have generously provided in establishing a remarkable and significant event. A presentation by Dr Jwan Jalal followed.

The Acting Chair of NICE2022 and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering also delivered a speech 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.

After the opening ceremony and cutting of the ribbon, the project demonstration and evaluation process began and continued until lunch break. The jury members then handed their evaluation application accounts to the organising committee staff responsible for determining the winners.

The overall scores were calculated through a mobile application created especially for this event. Each project was averaged, and the score-tied projects were evaluated according to a formula used to determine the project rank automatically.

NICE2022 came to an end with the closing ceremony at the main building entrance at 4:00 PM. 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 contributing to the competition’s success. The top 3 winners of all seven participating categories and international winners were announced. Participants were awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals, prize money and certificates endowed by the Vice President of TIU, Dr Mehmet Ozdemir.