Orange Jordan recently signed an agreement with the Hashemite University to launch an Orange FabLab at the university’s faculty of engineering soon, as part of “Innovation Space”, a three-year project co-funded by the EU’s “Innovation for Enterprise Growth and Jobs” program aiming to promote digital empowerment and innovation culture on a wider scale.
The new FabLab is an extension of the “Innovation Space” project that seeks to expand Orange’s free digital programs and give youth the opportunity to benefit from training in digital skills growing in demand to enhance their employability and support them in launching their own projects.
Under the agreement, the Orange FabLab at the Hashemite University will provide a comprehensive training in digital fabrication skills, tools, and machinery to enable joiners to create prototypes and benefit from 3D printing technologies, laser cutting and CNC machines in starting their innovative projects.
Orange Jordan affirmed its keenness to extend its free digital programs to cover the Kingdom at large, as the number of beneficiaries/certificates granted within the “Innovation Space” project reached 20,000, noting that it continues to expand the scope of the programs in partnership with the EU.
The Hashemite University FabLab is set to digitally empower youth for more employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, stemming from Orange Jordan’s role as a responsible digital leader and its belief in youth’s active contribution to driving sustainable development, the company added.
For his part, the President of the Hashemite University, Prof. Dr. Fawaz Al-Abdel-Haq Al-Zboon, said that he highly values Orange Jordan’s continuous initiatives and is proud of the cooperation with company in establishing the Orange FabLab, which reinforces the efforts of the university and its faculty of engineering to enable students and graduates in terms of skills, as well as offer them an opportunity to benefit from this leading project in digital fabrication and innovation that prove vital to elevate their fourth industrial revolution skillset and increase their competitiveness in the local and global labor markets.
Al-Zboon also asserted the importance of the Hashemite University and Orange Jordan’s partnership as a model for national institutions seeking to enrich Jordan’s youth skills and drive growth in the national economy by providing human capital equipped to excel and compete, therefore increasing their opportunities in the labor market, enabling them to start their own projects and startups, and empowering them in their careers to enhance their contribution to socioeconomic progress, all in line with the university’s vision: “from the Hashemite University to the world.”
The EU-funded “Innovation Space” project supports the expansion of Orange Jordan’s digital programs to include 9 Community Digital Centers, 5 new coding academies, 5 FabLabs, 8 start-up accelerators and incubators, in addition to an “Innovation Hub” at the Orange Digital Village in Amman.
The program is a pioneering initiative in Jordan and a one-stop shop for digital innovation and entrepreneurial support. It introduces digital culture, fosters digital skills – especially among women and youth – and promotes and nurtures entrepreneurship by identifying key opportunities for digital economic growth.
