16 PICO Kids Ambassadors travel to Dubai to join Emirati peers in a makeathon and other innovation and entrepreneurship activities.

Sixteen teens from Jerusalem’s PICO Kids Ambassadors program traveled to Dubai on December 5 for a groundbreaking five-day summit with peers from the United Arab Emirates.

The Israeli and Emirati teens teamed up for a makeathon at the Dubai Future Foundation to create workable solutions to the water scarcity crisis. They developed prototypes for ideas including desalination facilities, vertical farms and portable bottle caps with integrated filters.

Representing the multicultural diversity of Jerusalem, the visitors also toured cultural sites and innovation centers and met with Emirati entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders.

“We are all really the same, we were just born in different places in the world,” said a student from Dubai’s Taaleem School.

Another student added, “It’s been an absolutely amazing experience and an opportunity that you can’t get anywhere else. I’ve never met an Israeli before in my whole life. It’s time for peace and if we talk with each other, especially the youth, things will change.”