In the era of Covid, Jordanian mechanical engineer Saliba Taimeh wondered how to treat a contaminated surface on a daily basis, such as the ramps of escalators in shopping centers, airports or stations.
After imagining a system to sterilize them using ultraviolet rays, he joined TechWorks, a platform created in 2018 and equipped with cutting-edge technologies.
Unique in Jordan and affiliated with a foundation created by the Crown Prince, Hussein ben Abdallah, this platform aims to bring together young people, ideas and resources to strengthen the innovation capacities of this Middle Eastern country of just over 10 million inhabitants.
|
© AFP Young people working in the premises of TechWorks, a platform equipped with advanced technologies, in Amman, on February 20, 2022 |
–
Last year, TechWorks attracted a hundred creators and start-ups, allowing them to quickly develop prototypes at low cost.
It plans to open two more branches in Jordan and offer technology training in schools and universities.
– “Support” –
This is how Mr. Taimeh created a prototype of a small machine emitting ultraviolet rays, which can destroy various viruses and bacteria present on stair railings.
 |
© AFP Zain Abu Rumman, 18-year-old high school student, inventor of the “SPS Watch”, a tracking system for the elderly or disabled, on February 20, 2022 at the premises of TechWorks, in Amman, Jordan |
–
The platform “provided me with all the support, backing, advice and guidance” to help him perfect the sterilization device, after 23 trials in nearly two years, he said.
After contacting several international companies, a German company specializing in the health safety of public places has agreed to manufacture this machine, called “Brigid Box”.
Mr. Taimeh’s success is not an isolated case.
An 18-year-old high school student, Zain Abu Rumman, has developed the “SPS Watch”, a tracking system for the elderly or disabled, which is worn around the neck or on the wrist.
The device “sends the geolocation to a loved one in the event of a problem” of the person wearing it, such as a fall or an injury, Abu Rumman told AFP.
 |
© AFP 18-year-old high school student Zain Abu Rumman demonstrates the operation of the “SPS Watch” application he created, on February 20, 2022 in Amman, Jordan |
–
It took him two and a half years to develop it and he concluded a production agreement with a Chinese company.
Another designer, Omar Khader, 26, works for “Jazri Studio”, an industrial product design company that has developed a “smart” plug to protect children from electric shock.
“TechWorks has specialized equipment, engineers and technicians that help us turn our ideas into successful products,” he said.
– A hundred start-ups –
Other creators, like Malik Nour, a 32-year-old civil engineer, still have a long and costly way to go to perfect their products.
 |
© AFP Omar Khader, who works for ‘Jazri Studio’, shows off the ‘smart’ plug he developed to protect children from electric shocks, on February 20, 2022 in Amman, Jordan |
–
Mr. Nour is the originator of the “Pikler triangle”, a children’s toy presented as safe and environmentally friendly. He hopes to convince Swedish furniture giant Ikea to list the products it already sells on social media to customers in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
TechWorks is described by its CEO, Ismail Hakki, as “a creative factory” open to students and entrepreneurs. “It’s a creative environment that offers all the necessary resources to support young people and enable them to turn a simple idea into a real product,” he told AFP.
 |
© AFP Young people in the premises of TechWorks, a platform equipped with advanced technologies, on February 20, 2022 in Amman, Jordan |
–
The doors of this factory, FabLab, are “open to everyone”. It also provides services to doctors and hospitals in the fields of maxilofacial surgery, digital dentistry, masks and sterilization.
At the request of a doctor, FabLab transformed the chest X-ray of a patient with a malignant tumor close to the heart into a three-dimensional model of the patient’s chest, thus facilitating the operation.
–
