Business & Money | Saturday 22 October, 2016 2:55 am |

Global Grad Show, the largest exhibition of graduate design and innovation from universities around the world, is back with more thought-provoking and timely designs that offer solutions to some of the world's pressing problems. In its second year, the show celebrates ingenuity with 145 projects from 30 countries on six continents, including groundbreaking works designed to transform the future. With over 50 universities participating, the next generation of design innovators from MENA institutions have been selected to show work alongside global leaders such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), The Royal College of Art (UK), and Tsinghua University (Beijing), offering unparalleled insight into the world as it might be tomorrow. Alongside the exhibition will be a diverse design education summit, further positioning Dubai as a global hub of innovation.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161012/829041 )

Curated by Brendan McGetrick, the works are categorized according to three relevant themes - empower, connect, and sustain. The projects in the Empower section provide new ways to spark ideas and expand abilities. The Connection section encourages exchange of ideas and as well as building communities. Sustain is a survey of innovative approaches to reducing waste and generating energy.

The projects are selected not only for their aesthetics, but for the ideas behind them and their potential effects. The show includes high tech projects and low tech, expensive ones and low cost, mechanical and manual and virtual. But they are united by a shared desire to apply design and technology to expand the possibilities of daily life. From a jacket that transforms into a tent capable of providing shelter for four adults, inhabitable roofscapes that provide privacy to refugees in camps, products that help reduce wasting water, collapsible hydroponic farms, to a kitchen for one-armed users, the projects were designed to demonstrate new ways of thinking and create lasting impact on the world.

Global Grad Show is held at d3 and plays a key role in Dubai's transformation into an innovation-led economy.

Global Grad Show takes place during Dubai Design Week, which was established in 2015 by Art Dubai Group in partnership with Dubai Design District (d3). Art Dubai Group is a joint venture company between the Dubai International Financial Centre and Middle East Fairs Ltd.