When Beirut-based GIST entrepreneur Hind Hobeika made the decision to travel around the world to Las Vegas to attend 2013 International CES®, she knew it would help her business, she just didn’t realize just how much international attention her innovative gadget would receive.

Hobeika’s device, called Instabeat, is an attachment for swimming goggles that tracks a person’s heart rate, calories, turns, breathing pattern, laps and speed. It displays a color on a swimmer’s goggles to let them know whether to speed up or slow down. Instabeat says it’s the first to monitor heart rate seamlessly and accurately while tracking activity as well as breathing patterns.

Hobeika and her Instabeat caught the attention of journalists from around the world who were looking to feature the “coolest” and most interesting gadgets. The Huffington Post named the Instabeat as one of the best gadgets at CES, while Tech Cocktail highlighted it as an item to buy. Hobeika was also interviewed by the Middle East Broadcasting Network reaching 130 million Arabic speaking people around the world. With more than 5,000 journalists attending CES this year, the world’s largest annual innovation event, which takes place at the World Trade Center Las Vegas along with other Las Vegas venues, is the premier place to be seen.

Hobeika, a 24-year-old mechanical engineer and a former swimming champion, works with CRDF Global, an independent nonprofit organization that promotes international scientific and technical collaboration through grants, technical resources and training. CRDF encouraged Hobeika to showcase her product at CES. With all the worldwide exposure, Instabeat is now in production and taking pre-orders. 

“International innovators like Hind took the global stage at CES in Las Vegas and stepped onto the perfect platform to launch her product,” Ovidiu Bujorean, GIST program manager. “CRDF Global was also able to meet with potential partners interested in promoting international entrepreneurship through the GIST (Global Innovation through Science and Technology) initiative.”

CES is held at the Las Vegas Convention and World Trade Center, an official World Trade Center site. According to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® the 2013 CES was the largest in the show’s 45+ year history, with 1.92 million net square feet of exhibit space. More than 3,250 exhibitors unveiled some 20,000 new products at the 2013 CES, drawing more than 150,000 attendees, including more than 35,000 from 150 countries outside the United States. CES returns to Las Vegas January 7 - 10, 2014.