Hayat Sindi – TRANSCRIPT
I have believed in the power of science since I was a child. When I was five years old, I had a little cat called Ginger and a small broken chair, which I converted into a small cave.
I made it my own little world. I spent hours and hours with Ginger inside this small cave. Spending time imagining about where science may go to in the future. The space, the moon. Also, I admired scientists and scholars who did something amazing for humanity.
They were my heroes. Sometimes I would dress like them. Yes, I used to sneak into my mom’s cupboard and put clothes on to try to look like them. Sometimes I wore a cardboard box on top of my head, thinking I was walking on the moon. I love exploring and learning.
I was lucky. I had a father who could teach me anything I wanted. One day I showed him the scientists and I asked him a question. Are they really human beings? My father answered, “Yes. Why are you asking?”
I said, “I wanted to be like them, but I cannot find anyone like them around.”
He replied, “They exist.”
“Hayat, with education and learning, you can do anything.”
“You can be one of them.”
So I loved school. School days were the happiest of my life. I know it’s weird, but it’s true. I wanted to be like my heroes, to make a difference in the world. So I asked my father after high school to send me to England to study to become a scientist. Because my lifelong passion is to make the impact of science more tangible for every human being in the world. I believe science and technology can solve many challenges: sustainability, poverty and, of course, climate change. But if I look from the heart, I recognize part of the world is deprived of the benefit of science and technology.
Why?
It is not because of capability. We are all capable, as much as scientists. But we need to work hard to grow remarkable solutions to open and accept or encourage new, fantastic ideas. Take the Russian scientists, for example. They have a history of confidence.
Building fighter jets from wood, for example. Or the self-running magnetic engine of a Portuguese scientist. It’s true, they don’t come from the right place. They haven’t been to the right school. And they do come with risk. However, they remain truly startling ideas of imagination. So powerful. But we need to be more open to them. They could be right. I also didn’t go to a private school.
I didn’t have the chance to learn another language like English, for example. Or have the chance to see a real lab. I come from a traditional family with no extra luxury. Eight children, and I Ieft home all the way to England, a completely new environment, a huge risk, with no scientific background, and with no English, just to fulfill my dream to help the world. I remember, not long after I’d been in England, I went straight away to the admission office at the University of London.
I took with me a female translator. And I asked her to tell them that I want to do science. The lady at the admissions counter asked, “Do you have scientific qualifications?” The translator told me, and I said, “No, but how can I get them?” By this time, the lady started to ask, “Who wants to know?” When she realized it was me, she said, “No way, she doesn’t even speak English.” She asked the translator to tell me, “Ask her to go back home She’s crazy.” She didn’t know that was my nickname. I didn’t give up, I didn’t give up because I believe in the power of science and technology.
This was the inspiration that pushed me so strongly against many odds to work as hard as I needed, and be accepted at the best world universities like King’s College in London, Cambridge University, Oxford, MIT and Harvard. I really wanted to link science and society.
I really wanted to reach out to the hand of people. Science is already practical: cars, trains, airplanes. But I wanted to make science more practical and real for people. So I worked with Paper Diagnostics, a social innovation to manage healthcare in a developing world. As a scientist, me and my team, we had no clue how to take the idea from the lab into the market.
So my boss advised me to go to Harvard Business School so I can learn the commercial side of technology, and how to write a business plan, how to understand to translate the idea from the lab into a product. You can imagine as a scientist it was tough to be in a class with everybody speaking a different language than me. And I had to keep looking smart. I reached out to the right community for encouragement and support. And this happened when I was accepted as social innovation fellow and science fellow at PopTech.
What I found there is everybody speaking my language of social innovation. Thank God. Yet, when I left Harvard, I still felt the full potential of social innovation was not being achieved. Scientists are still fixed in their own careers Getting tenure, making publications.
I remember I had so many discussions with them. I said, “Science was born to solve problems, and we have many challenges.”
“Your talent, your gift could save lives, could clean water in Vietnam to help children. Could generate electricity in Africa so more people will have extra hours to study, to learn, to operate in a hospital.” I remember asking them to think more out of the box.
We have to take the step into the world of people. More heart and mind, thinking together, working together I remember I even went to see the President of the National Academy of Science. I suggested to him we should celebrate social innovators, because they are taking extra steps to make things happen. I knew this type of change was not going to happen overnight.
So I took practical steps and I became a social innovator. I started i2 Institute for imagination and ingenuity for the youth in the Middle East. I’d been imagining the details for the institute for the past ten years. Connecting with people, getting ideas, being truly inspired and energized by everyone involved, with a big, clear goal in mind to create the ecosystem for entrepreneurship and social innovation for scientists, engineers, and technologists in the Middle East. So they can have the chance to fulfill their dreams for themselves and for society, and create new jobs, develop a new market and make a difference.
At i2, we take them through an 8-month program to teach them about business skills, entrepreneurship skills, to build their confidence and courage, and make them understand how to translate their dream into reality. And this year we are so lucky we graduated six innovators, six remarkable change agents. One of them actually is the winner of the Rolex Enterprise. He developed a mechanism to detect superbugs. The other is from Oman, and he engineered a system to help the less fortunate.
He’s also amazing. I believe we, the scientific community, need to integrate with the changing world. Not only the white lab coat part. Because for us to be effective, we don’t have to be a change agent. Rather we can decide to be mentors, to be advisors, because our huge, collective knowledge can make a huge, positive change.
At i2 we have a network of mentors who advise. And they’re international. And they support and inspire the entrepreneurs who are really in their lovely and exciting journey. To embark on a journey, inspiration is essential. Science opened my eyes to many things.
But I truly believe we need to take extra steps to make science more open and more out of the box quickly. I believe some of the suggestions are the seeds to celebrate the remarkable power of science, to cultivate scientists open to infinite solutions and possibilities, and engage them with the society and link to the policy makers. I remember when I was appointed by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to be in the Shura Council, in the Parliament cabinet. Many people were rejected for me to be there I understand.
It’s not an ideal environment for a scientist. But I wanted to be there because I would have a voice I can change, I can advise the future of science for the new generation, for women, for girls. And it’s worth it because it’s not easy to find a scientist who can translate the importance of science to the decision makers, where the real changes begin.
Finally, talking about the Institute for Imagination and Ingenuity, I would like to define imagination this way: the confidence to dream what people will say no to, but you have the confidence to achieve it. And if people say no, it doesn’t mean you’re wrong. It may mean there is something missing in their life that they haven’t recognized. On the other hand, if they say yes, they want you to develop something they already know it exists. So it may not be the opportunity you hoped for. So keep going against people’s rejection.
Because by doing that, you may reveal the missing part, which is going to change not only their life forever, but the world for a better one. Thank you very much.
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