CAPA and KII Sign on the Dotted Line for Tech Bootcamp Cooperation

The Center for Academic and Professional Advancement (CAPA) formally added another valuable member to its professional network on February 20, 2023, when it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Erbil-based NGO Kurdistan Innovation Institute (KII). This MoU signing, like CAPA’s recent one with Wedo Academy, took place on the campus of the American University of Kurdistan (AUK).

The two parties pledged collaboration on a new project initiated by CAPA, the Design Thinking Tech Bootcamp. This Bootcamp is a one-of-a-kind platform within Kurdistan for the brightest and most gifted young professionals. It will be facilitated by Raffi Simonian, Executive Director of Epicenter for Action Research at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), experienced in over 65 projects, including similar bootcamps at Los Angeles Community College (LACC) and UCLA. This Bootcamp at the American University of Kurdistan will provide scholarships to those professionals who have the courage to dream and the ingenuity to come up with real solutions to real problems, for the immediate region and beyond. Participants will be trained in entrepreneurship, inherently rewarding thinking outside of the box. The Bootcamp will serve as a laboratory for innovative and sustainable business ideas, which after adequate incubation and investment should create jobs and opportunities for individuals. These jobs and opportunities for individuals should, in turn, create growth and prosperity for the region.

Dr. Azad Najar, KII Co-CEO, visited AUK on February 20, meeting with AUK’s President, Dr. Randall Rhodes, the Secretary of AUK’s Board of Trustees, Dr. Honar Issa, CAPA Director, Loucine Hayes, and the Design Thinking Tech Bootcamp Project Manager, Ala Bahjat. During the meeting, both sides emphasized the importance of such initiatives if the region is to promote business innovation successfully.  Several other topics were discussed over the course of the meeting, such as how exactly both parties can best collaborate to make the Design Thinking Tech Bootcamp at AUK a sustainable innovation platform for the wider region.

The official signing of the memorandum of understanding by Dr. Najar of KII and Dr. Rhodes of AUK was the upshot of this meeting. Specifically, the signed MoU calls for joint action on the Bootcamp’s student selection process, the provision of industry experts as coaches and presenters, the formulation of “problem statements” for each student group, and the ongoing support of the winning idea throughout the incubation program that will follow the Bootcamp.