† Dubai, June 9th, 2015: A Business Plan Competition organised under the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) at University of Dubai has helped inspire innovative entrepreneurial ideas among students with four groups of students coming forward with outstanding business plans that have the potential to improve services in select areas. Taking part in the competition, Elie Hanna and Alexandre Doll presented a Mobile App to expedite food service and delivery at restaurants, thereby saving time and increasing their re-order cycle, while Ghazal Al Zein presented a plan to market an advanced quality of paint which can be used for special purposes. Two other students, Abdulrahman Alsrouji and Zaid Alsarayji, introduced a special dispensing machine for food supplements, which could be used to offer a better service for health-conscious consumers. In another innovative idea, Farah Al Shaibani and Souraya Aref presented a plan to establish a childrenís nursery school with unique services. ìThe Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at University of Dubai is keen to ignite every mind with entrepreneurship and creative opportunities. The Business Plan Competition is aimed at enhancing the capability of students to generate independent business plan ideas. The CEI initiative promotes public speaking and presentation skills among the students and enables them to better understand investors,î said Dr. Eesa Al Bastaki, president of University of Dubai. A panel committee, comprising Dr. Sami Miniaoui, Associate Director at CEI, and faculty researchers Marina Arnaut and Dr. Ibrahim Tabche, expressed satisfaction with the quality of presentations and innovative ideas put forward by the participants, and suggested ideas to make the projects financially viable. The students, on their part, stated that the competition helped them sharpen their entrepreneurial insights and provided them an opportunity to gain hand-on experience of the knowledge they had gained. The CEI was established under the University of Dubaiís umbrella in the Fall of 2014-15 as a research and consultancy platform for students, alumni, and faculty to network, collaborate and develop ideas. The CEI supports entrepreneurs through various stages of the entrepreneurial process to create a culture that fosters innovation and turns ideas into practice.