I recently wrote about the Panarab science competition and TV show “Stars of Science”, Qatari-made with stellar production values. It is basically an X-Factor copy, but with science skills instead of singing skills – with the winner taking home $300,000. But seems there is no shortage of science competitions on the market these days!

Science Age Society (SAS) and Intel Corporation have launched a similar, albeit at a much smaller scale, science competition – but this one is aimed at school children 14-18 years old.

The competition, taking place at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt, will bring over 120 students, from 10 Arab states, together to compete for prizes totaling $20,000.

According to Intel, this competition will foster local innovation and increase local talent and research capacity.

Essam Sharaf, chairman of SAS, hopes such endeavours would promote creativity and innovation amongst the younger generations of the region.

The competition, under the patronage of the Arab League, will take place 7-9 December, 2010. However, I doubt it will be broadcast on TV like Stars of Science. This is quite unfortunate, because bringing this into homes might spur the imagination of millions of children, instead of just the qualifying group who will take part.

Here’s hoping these initiatives keep growing and expanding. SAS might not have as much money as the Qatar Foundation funded “Stars of Science”, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting to me. I especially like the fact that it is aimed at school children in intermediary and secondary schools. Such a single encounter might completely change the way a student things, prompting them to be active participants in the knowledge-based society we all dream of.