
Winners of the Excellence Award in Innovative Palm Technology
Research name: Improving male date palm varieties and producing one million selectively bred male date palms
winner: M. Hatem bin Fahd Al-Shammari
Founder of the Palm Male Enhancement Company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
research results:
The project aims to improve the process of agricultural pollination of palm trees, and they are expected to play an important role in the production and processing of palm pollen, enhancing date production, producing and manufacturing pollen in a scientific way, improving it, packaging it, and sterilizing it for sale in local and international markets. In order to ensure their availability throughout the year, the project also aims to produce improved varieties of date palms with distinctive characteristics. Which will be propagated through tissue culture and sold locally and internationally.

Winners of the Excellence Award in Innovative Palm Technology
Research name: Group-based design for the development of a semi-automatic date harvesting machine
winner: Mrs. Janice Gold
Founder/Owner and CEO of Responsive Drip Irrigation, LLC
research results:
- GrowStream™ Rapid Response Drip Irrigation (RDI) is the world’s first and only plant-responsive irrigation and fertilization system that uses organic chemistry to allow each plant to self-regulate its own water and nutrient delivery, Resulting in unparalleled water savings and plant performance versus all existing forms of forced irrigation.
- The GrowStream™ tube is composed of millions of tiny pores that respond to plant root secretions, They release water and nutrients until plants stop emitting these chemical signals. The system provides a slow delivery of water flow that matches the absorption capacity of the roots. Which makes it a precision irrigation system.
- The GrowStream™ system saves 30-50% water compared to standard drip irrigation, While also significantly increasing crop health and productivity by using fewer agrochemicals and reducing energy requirements by 40-90%.

Winners of the Excellence Award in Innovative Palm Technology
Research name: Group-based design for developing a semi-automatic date harvesting machine.
winner: Dr. Mahmoud Abdel Rahman
Director, Manchester Business School Limited, United kingdom
research results:
The project pioneered the development of a pioneering semi-automatic date harvesting machine. Using a group-based design approach. This innovative solution aims to create a reliable and efficient mechanism for harvesting dates. Expectations indicate that it will only take 5 minutes. With a team of 2-3 people, To complete the harvesting process for each palm tree. This progress is expected to achieve 100% harvest efficiency on all palm trees.

Winners of the best scientific research
Research name: Converting date palm waste and date fruit waste into high-value products: A sustainable approach to resource exploitation.
winner: Professor Dr. Ali Hassan Al Marzouqi
Dean of the College of Graduate Studies, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, The United Arab Emirates
research results:
- Improving and patenting the process of creating biodegradable tableware from date palm remnants (DPR), To serve as an environmentally friendly alternative to single-use plastics such as spoons, forks, knives and stirrers. Converting date palm waste into high-value chemicals such as C7-C8 compounds, Vital applications for fuels, perfumes, agricultural materials and various industries, The main part of the product.
- Converting date pomace into lactic acid (457 g/kg of date fruit), It is a crucial introduction to PLA production, It is a biodegradable plastic.

Winners of the best scientific research
Research name: Exploring the agricultural biodiversity of date palms in AlUla: Revealing the secrets of “Alberni”.
winner: the doctor Muriel Gross Balthazard
French National Institute for Sustainable Development Research (IRD), Montpellier, France.
research results:
Revealing the rich diversity of oasis agriculture, Especially Al-Ula, Conducting a unique type of evolutionary analysis for the first time for the Al-Barni variety in Al-Ula. The ethnobotanical survey revealed that Al-Berni dates bear distinctive names according to their quality. It differs from the prominent Al-Berni dates grown in Oman. It explores dozens of varieties to expand understanding of the diversity of AlUla varieties for the first time. Furthermore it, The results documented indigenous knowledge and characterized its genetic integrity to promote sustainable local production.

Winners of the best scientific research
Research name: Carbon nanoparticles produced from Saudi palm leaves for different applications (activated and inactive).
winner: Dr. Noman Abdullah Salah
Center for Nanotechnology and Department of Nuclear Engineering, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
research results:
- An environmentally safe and cost-effective method for producing carbon nanoparticles from palm leaves using high-energy ball milling followed by high-intensity ultrasound has been developed and patented.
- The particles produced are characterized by their small size (7 nm), Makes it suitable for a wide range of applications including air purification filters, and treatment of polluted water, seawater desalination, Adding plastic and rubber fittings, additives for fuel and lubricants, Electrical energy storage materials. and gas and fertilizer absorption and precious metal leaching in mining, biotechnology and drug delivery.

Winners in new product development
Search name: A wide, value-added range of innovative date-based health products in smart packaging.
winner: Mohsen Boujabal
President of the Podgebal Association VACPA, Tunisia.
research results:
Developing innovative and healthy products to spread the consumption of dates outside the countries where this fruit is endemic, Especially by adapting it with date ingredients, Ready to eat on the go, Easy, delicious and crunchy. They have successfully developed and marketed healthy bars, organic flakes, Date cubes, Dates and chips workshops, seed oil, And the power of dates.

Winners in new product development
Search name: Greek-style dairy drink fermented with Saudi dates.
winner: Mr. Claude Eric Chat
Vice President of Research, Development and Quality, Al Safi Danone Company
research results:
The newly developed product is a unique recipe of fermented dairy beverage in which they have added fresh milk, probiotics, grains, vitamins and locally sourced dates. The product is unique in that the recipe was developed from organically produced Saudi dates to meet the needs of the local, regional and global market under the Safi Danone brand.