Innovation and entrepreneurship in Iraq are the backbones of modernism and the key to improving a country’s infrastructure, quality of life, and future. Even though Iraq and Kurdistan are in great demands and have incredible space for innovation, but we don’t see it happening as much as we would like to. This is what Dr. Hemin Latif explained in his TEDx talk titled “How Can Teaching Creativity Support Entrepreneurship?” at the first TEDxNishtiman event in Kurdistan, Iraq.

Dr. Latif, a university lecturer and the executive director at TeraTarget, an IT innovation company, suggests that the school system is the cause of the problem; the problem of the lack of innovation and entrepreneurship personalities. Dr. Latif states that our school systems don’t build or grow creativity in our youth. After finding the root of the problem, Dr. Latif decided to fix it, at least on some levels. He prepared a new course on creativity and innovation in the university that he teaches.

After overcoming obstacles, Dr. Latif finalized and provided the course on creativity. There were concerns about the course’s success and whether the course is going to attract enough interest among the students in the course’s topics. However, the course exceeded everyone’s expectation. The number of students that registered for that course were six times more than the expected number.

This huge number of students means people, especially the youth here, desire to learn and explore creativity. “We teach people physics, and then we expect them to apply it, we teach them law, and then we expect them to apply it.” Dr. Latif continued, “The same goes for creativity, we have to teach creativity before we expect it from people. We cannot demand creativity without teaching creativity!”

Iraq is lacking innovators and entrepreneurs, even though there are opportunities for these people to thrive and make changes. Since Iraq and Kurdistan, too, are “developing” countries and have shortages in services, innovators and entrepreneurs are needed to fill these spaces.

These people can reshape and reintroduce communities in a new image. An actual image that will make it easier for the future generation of innovators and entrepreneurs to establish themselves. To achieve this, first, we have to start with the educational system and remake it in a way that encourages innovation and entrepreneurship. Dr. Latif ends his talk by stating his dream of having every student in the country taking a course on creativity and having every institution in the country appointing a vice president for creativity and innovation.

TEDx talk of Dr. Latif about How Can Teaching Creativity Support Entrepreneurship in Iraq?

The post The Problem with Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Iraq appeared first on TeraTarget.

WSA which stands for Worlds Summit Awards is a nomination-based award system in digital innovation. The yearly summit focus on new innovations in the field of IT. They also require these digital innovations to have a positive social impact.

The event is within the framework of UN SDG and partly funded by EU.

The significance of the upcoming events of WAS is that for the first-time inventors from Iraq can join too. This will open the door to many local pioneers and prominent figures. They can give their invention the chance to see the light on a global platform.

A fundamental part of the WSA is the National Experts. These are experts from 178 countries around the world. Each expert is coming from a different background and have a variety of social engagements.

The first National Expert that was selected by WSA in Iraq is Dr. Hemin Latif. He will be supervising the early nomination to the international summit.

Dr. Latif holds a BSc in Civil Engineering, a BSc in Computing and Statistics. Along with a Graduate Diploma in Computing and Informatics. And finally, a Ph.D. in Interaction Design and Robotics.

Moreover, he is Assistant Professor of Information Technology at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS). On an entrepreneurship view, he is the founding Director of the Center for Informatics and Data Analytics (CIDA). Along with being the Co-founder and Executive Director of TeraTarget for Digital Intelligence and IT Innovations.

Besides his education and entrepreneurship occupations, Dr. Latif has supervised numerous student projects and teams. Including winning projects of City Award of Sulaimani 2014, the winning project of the national competition of Microsoft ImagineCup 2012 . Finally, he has mentored many featured projects on multiple TV programs.

These experiences in a variety of fields have made Dr. Latif a strong candidate as a National Expert. Therefore, he was chosen by WSA as the first and only National Expert from Iraq.

Now, inventors can participate in the WSA, through their national expert. Additionally, have the chance to benefit from this international opportunity.

The World Summit Awards are a non-monetary award system. Instead, the program focuses on sustainable knowledge transfer through a worldwide network. This means that winners benefit not from a one-time financial reward, but a lifelong partnership and integration.

This lifelong partnership and integration will include the following: –

• Pitching seminars
• 5-minute pitch session in front of an international audience during the Congress
• A program of especially crafted workshops for the winners
• Invitation to the prestigious award ceremony and Gala night
• Board and lodging for the durance of the Congress
• Eye to eye exchange with speakers, jurors and international guests

• Integration into a network of internationally recognized digital content developers
• Access to the WSA community of global experts and industry leaders in over 180 countries
• Interaction with world-renowned sponsors and partners of the WSA community
• Workshops specially shaped for the winners needs
• A videoclip highlighting the winners projects
• Special placement on WSA website, Youtube channel and social media promotion
• Long-term coverage within WSA editorial channels

These chances are a crucial help to make any business or idea successful. People now, from Iraq and Iraqi-Kurdistan can benefit from it, too.

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