Two Carnegie Mellon Qatar students have won first place in the Henkel Innovation Challenge 7 regional semi final, which took place in Dubai this February.

The competition challenged students to create an innovative, sustainable product or technology for the Henkel brand in 2050. Headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, Henkel operates in three business areas: laundry and home care, beauty care and adhesive technologies.

Sarah Mustafa and Jaasim Polin, who are both information systems seniors, came up with an idea for “the world’s first smart programmable beauty product.”

“This is a beauty cream that is made of living proteins with digital data stored in them. It is controlled by users with the help of special software on a computer. The cream will be able to reproduce a 3D model of the user’s face and display it on an external device. The user will then be able to retouch their face, such as changing shades or colors, hiding pimples, and improving glow, radiance and curves,” Polin said.

Asli Tumer Sezgin, organization development manager at GCC Henkel, said the team represented the best of Carnegie Mellon’s “education, enthusiasm and the innovative spirit.”

The CMU-Q team will go on to represent the GCC in the worldwide competition in Dusseldorf, which will be held between March 31 and April 2.