DAI Jordan Receives Award for Supporting Green Entrepreneurship

September 22, 2011

DAI Jordan was presented with a plaque September 18 by Her Royal Highness Princess Sumaya in recognition of DAI’s support of the 4th Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition.

Deputizing for Her Majesty Queen Rania, HRH Princess Sumaya honored DAI Jordan for its $5,000 contribution to the Business Park for Project Developments at Prince Hassan Science City.

The DAI contribution, to encourage entrepreneurs to promote clean energy in their work plans, was shared by three winners of the Best Cleantech Business Plan: Taqetna, which incorporated wind energy turbines; NPS and its nitrate production system using solar energy; and Movement Charger, which proposed charging portable devices from movement and walking vibration.

Twenty projects were presented awards for their achievements in strategic planning, business plan development, project management, and other areas related to starting and developing high-impact technology companies.

Farhan Kalaldeh, executive director of the Queen Rania Centre for Entrepreneurship, said the projects highlighted the ingenuity of young Jordanians and the investment potential offered by emerging Jordanian technology startups. “Moreover, the focus was directed at strategic sectors of the Kingdom’s economy: information and communication technology, clean technology, and life sciences,” Kalaldeh said, according to the Jordan Times.

DAI previously supported El Hassan Science City by helping establish the region’s first water efficiency measurement laboratory. That work was performed as part of the Instituting Water Demand Management in Jordan project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, a project honored in April 2010 with a Global Water Intelligence Distinction Award.