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The Bahrain National Museum hosted, last Thursday a pioneering academic presentations of technological projects by students of the University of Bahrain, related to the protection of artifacts in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The educational and scientific shows were inaugurated in the presence of H.E Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, President of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, and Mrs. Maha Abdul Hameed Mufeez. CEO of Tamkeen Labor Fund, and Dean of the College of Information Technology, Dr. Hessa Al-Junaid.

Speaking for the occasion, H.E Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa said: “Today's world is a fast-paced and changing world, and the cultural sector must keep pace with technological developments in order to continue to provide a distinctive experience to its audience”. In addition, H.E has pointed out that the Culture Authority and museums in the Kingdom of Bahrain are always striving to take the initiative to develop their facilities and programs, making sure they are up to the age and updated with all that is new in the field of modern technologies in order to create a unique and distinctive museum experience for citizens, residents and visitors of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Moreover, H.E Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed praised the cooperation between the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, the Tamkeen Labor Fund and the University of Bahrain, which resulted in technological projects for University of Bahrain students that would enhance the preservation of the cultural heritage of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

For her part, the CEO of the Labor Fund (Tamkeen) praised the presentations made by the students, which included the application of innovative concepts and the latest technologies such as Augmented Reality and artificial intelligence, through the Cloud Innovation Center (CIC) of Amazon Cloud Services. Mrs. Mufeez added saying: “We are pleased that students have positively reacted to the great benefits of using the Cloud Innovation Center and the technologies it provides to them in developing innovative solutions that simulate reality through practical training that encourages them to adopt promising skills, which is the main reason that prompted us to conclude this partnership with the University of Bahrain and Amazon cloud services AWS. Indeed, this initiative will also contribute to prepare generations of graduates specialized in promising technical fields needed by the labor market, and thus the private sector will be provided with highly skilled cadres and provide rewarding job opportunities for Bahrainis.”, Mufeez added.

Indeed, 9 students from the University of Bahrain have participated in the project presentations. In addition, the specialized team at the Culture Authority, under the supervision of Mrs. Fatima Saleh, Head of Information Systems at the Authority, worked in cooperation with Amazon Web Services (Cloud Innovation Centers Program CIC) and the University of Bahrain to create technical solutions based on artificial intelligence and augmented reality. The Bahrain National Museum will be the first museum in the Gulf region to adopt Amazon's virtual assistant "Alexa" in its museum displays.

There is doubt that these technologies aim to shed light on many artifacts, preserving, thus, these valuable historical pieces and enhancing the experience of visitors to the museum. Certainly, they will be able to interact with the artifacts through a three-dimensional experience, whether those pieces are displayed inside the protective glass in the museum or are in stores due to their sensitivity and protection measures. These projects come as part of the agreement signed by Tamkeen Labor Fund between Amazon Web Services and the University of Bahrain to provide innovative solutions that address critical problems and opportunities facing public sector institutions.