DOHA – The eighth edition of the World Summit on Innovation in Education (WISE) commenced in Qatar’s capital, Doha on Wednesday with a staggering 2000 number of participants from 100 countries.
The opening session of the three-day conference was inaugurated by Chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, and the moot will feature the announcement of the 2017 WISE Prize, the first of its kind to acknowledge the world’s leading and outstanding contributions to education.
After the inauguration, Sheikha Moza awarded a gold medal and a cash reward $500,000 to the winner, Dr Patrick Awuah for his services in the education sector in Ghana.
The WISE Prize, which aims to raise global awareness of the pivotal role of education in all societies was launched in 2011 at the initiative of Sheikha Moza, and this year, six out of 15 projects qualified as finalists so far.
The theme of WISE 2017, “Co-Exist, Co-Create: Learning to Live and Work Together”, ignites debate about the education challenges in times of global disruption and economic uncertainty.
Central to discussions will be the role of education in a post-truth world, with sessions focusing on media literacy; artificial intelligence and virtual reality; social entrepreneurship; design thinking and nudging for right education choices, among others.
Sir Michael Barber, former chief advisor to Tony Blair and chief education advisor at Pearson, is one of the authors to shed light on his views, in a research paper on ‘How to deliver improved outcomes for school systems’.
Besides, some of the world’s most creative leaders in the fields of education, technology, social entrepreneurship, global development, media and philanthropy flocked to Doha to participate in this conference.
The biennial global Summit, since its establishment in 2009, has become a premier international summit on the future of education.
Although renowned names would be gracing the event,however, confirmed speakers include: Prof Sebastien Thrun, chairman and co-founder, Udacity and founder of Google X Labs (USA); Mr Fareed Zakaria, writer and columnist, CNN host (USA); Dr Armel Karboul, commissioner, International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity (Tunisia); Ms Wendy Kopp, CEO and co-founder, Teach for All (USA); Sir Michael Barber, founder and chairman, Delivery Associates (UK) and Ms Noella Coursaris Musunka, founder, Malaika (Democratic Republic of Congo).
The conference will culminate tomorrow (Thursday).
