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My colleagues Bob, Perry, and I went for a week to the Higher College of Technology in UAE to teach a short seminar on Innovation and Product Design to a group of students and executives. It was a long, but really fun trip. The students were about 80% nationals, the remainder from elsewhere in the region. We did a few interactive talks — including one on my favorite book on creativity, Orbiting the Giant Hairball, but mostly spent time doing design simulations and group projects. In one project the students had to design a new international travel experience; in another they had to put themselves in the shoes of P&G CEO A.G. Lafley and design a new approach to product design and development for the company. They did a great job. Some pics of the students at work…

Aside from teaching the course, Bob, Perry and I got a chance to check out the country a bit. We had a fun time at a coffee bar in Abu Dhabi with some of the students — where Bob indulged in a hookah (sp?) pipe of mint cherry tobacco. He said he got dizzy from the smoke.

We also got to visit the Burj al Arab in Dubai — a hotel so extreme that it earned seven stars from whomever is doling out hotel stars. It was a scene — these pics don’t do it justice.

From the elevator going up to the bar on top, you can see the palm tree islands and the world island — these are three mammoth land reclamation / development projects that typify the spirit in Dubai.  Speaking of development, they are also building what will become the world’s tallest building there, 200 stories high (they are up to floor 130 now and so the final one will be more than 50% taller than this picture).

A highlight was being invited to Sheikh Nahayan’s weekly lunch. He’s the minister of higher education and technology and a member of the royal family of UAE. Bob was one seat away from the Sheikh and I was next to Bob. (I’ll try to post pictures of it.) I thought the whole scene was pretty amazing. Here’s Bob giving the Sheikh a copy of his book, Weird Ideas that Work. He had to run after the Sheikh because when the lunch was over, he bolted out the door really fast.

Back at campus, we explored some of the teaching facilities which were very impressive. One room was devoted to the medical program and there were some recovering patients in the teaching beds. Bob stopped to comfort them.

Overall, a very fun experience in a place I never expected to visit!

Category : Current Affairs, Design, Stanford, Stuff, Travel, Work, Worth reading