CAIRO: Nile University honored Haitham Desouky, one of its R&D engineers, on Dec. 12 for winning the first prize in the "Stars of Science" Competition, for his touch screen invention Vivifi. Vivifi is a sticker that can be placed under any surface to convert it into a touch feature surface. “It's good to see rising figures during this transition period in Egypt, it shows us that the country's strength is in its youth,” Tarek Khalil, president of Nile University said in his speech. “I am honored to be here, I could not be any happier to finally turn my invention to reality so the whole world can make use of it and especially the Egyptian people. I really hope that we as Egyptians begin taking inventions more seriously and invest more money in it,” Desouky said. The celebration was held at Smart Village, and was sponsored by Vodafone, Microsoft, TeData and Smart Village. The sponsors said they are looking forward to helping Desouky for further achievements, and supporting him to publicize Vivifi. The Stars of Science competition, initiated by the Qatar Foundation, is the first Pan-Arab reality-TV program dedicated to innovation, aiming to shed a spotlight on the next generation of young Arab innovators, with 8000 competitors Desouky has been inventing since he was 12 years old; his first invention was a device that measures the heart rate and sets off an alarm when the heart rate decreases below normal. He is an Al-Azhar engineering graduate and teacher's assistant at Nile University.
