Siemens today announced that it will launch the Siemens Student Award 2013 in the Middle East in early February. As part of the competition, Siemens will call on the region's finest young minds to demonstrate their capacity for innovative thinking, problem-solving and technical capability by developing solutions to a series of real-world challenges.

The Siemens Student Award, which was first launched in the region in 2011, will task students to select one of four assignments and develop a practical solution to it. The assignments will be defined by Siemens experts and address real-life challenges in the Middle East that will need to be tackled to support sustainable development for the region.

"I am very proud to announce that we will be launching the second Siemens Middle East Student Award in February," said Peter Loescher, President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens AG, during his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. "More than ever it is important that we engage students in considering the challenges facing our world, and encourage them to develop practical solutions. We believe this award can serve as a catalyst for innovative problem-solving not only for the Middle East, but for the entire planet."

Each submission - which can be presented by teams of up to three students - will be reviewed by experts from Siemens and a panel of independent judges, who will evaluate them against a specific set of criteria to determine whether the solution fits the challenge, is simple to implement, is presented creatively, displays innovation and is easy to understand. Winners will be formally announced at a ceremony in the last quarter of the year.

"This competition is not only an opportunity for students to publicly demonstrate their technical, strategic and practical abilities - it's also a chance to find real solutions to some of the toughest questions currently being posed by the region, and to give something back to the communities we operate in," said Erich Kaeser, CEO, Siemens Middle East. " Siemens has a 150-year history in the Middle East and it has always been a core principle of ours to address today's challenges with innovation through intensive research and development."

Siemens will be organizing University Days across the Middle East giving students the opportunity to meet with Siemens executives, discover more about the award and ask questions. The first University Day will be held at Abu Dhabi University in early February. The Siemens Student Award is open to anyone currently enrolled in higher education in the Middle East, and submissions can be made online via the website www.siemens.com/studentaward, where applicants can also learn more about the specific challenges and the judging criteria.

For further information and high-res images, please visit www.siemens.com/WFES