Nasa man hopes to inspire entrepreneurs

Engineer behind missions to Red Planet will tell young to think big when it comes to innovation.

Shahriar Shahabi (L), CEO of Pan Emirates, and Dr. Firouz Naderi of Nasa, in Dubai.

DUBAI // Dr Firouz Naderi may have managed five missions to Mars but when it comes to inspiring young people towards innovation he turns to the more down-to-earth example of his mobile phone.

Although most people can name Alexander Graham Bell as the inventor of the traditional telephone, there is no easy way to explain how the device has evolved over the decades.

"There is no single answer," the Iranian-American engineer said. "It came about through a complex osmosis of many layers of specialised expertise."

It is that sentiment that the associate director for project formulation and strategy at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California will echo this morning as he addresses 1,200 dignitaries, students and faculty members at Dubai Women's College.

Among the invited guests expected to attend are Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Minister of Higher Education and Research.

Dr Naderi was invited to Dubai by Shahriar Shahabi, the chief executive officer of the furniture company Pan Emirates, to help launch an initiative called Think It Big.

The idea is to use today's lecture as a springboard of inspiration for young people in the UAE and encourage them to be entrepreneurs.

In an effort to back this goal up, Mr Shahabi plans to lobby for changes to the country's education system as well as launch a new arm of Pan Emirates and hire a bright young chief executive to run it.

"We're not cultivating opportunities in the UAE," he said. "Risk takers and innovators are a dying breed in this region. We've become phenomenal consumers but we make no contribution. In order to move to the next paradigm shift we need human resources and role models."

Entrepreneurship has been a buzzword in the country for a decade now, he said, "but we have nothing to show for it. I think it is about time for action".

During his hour-long lecture, Dr Naderi, 65, will discuss his work as a systems engineer at Nasa, where he spearheaded the mission to land two rovers on opposite sides of Mars in January 2004. Although he no longer works on the Mars exploration project, his current position involves the search for life in other parts of the universe. He wants those in the audience to understand that most achievements are realised through collaborative effort.

"The great undertakings of today require a diversity of expertise which then become possible when the disciplines are brought together," he said.

"Of course we can be successful individuals and leave a thumbprint on the world like Einstein, Darwin or Dali, but Einsteins don't come by busloads.

"My point is that people should know they can be extremely influential and part of something that could alter history if they are part of a team."

He will also draw on the history of the region and its people - the Egyptians and Babylonians - to encourage the audience to think about what they would like to be remembered for.

"This is not a call to arms for everyone in the Middle East to become involved in space exploration or one specific field, it is more to indicate that if something as seemingly impossible as that is possible, then other, less lofty, things are."

Dr Naderi will be talking at Dubai Women's College Auditorium in Al Qusais today at 11.30am. Entry is free.