MANAMA: Thirteen teams comprising a total of 39 students from across the Middle East, including a team from Bahrain with students Yusuf Merza, Hisham Barakat and Saad Abdulla, competed in the final of the Huawei Middle East ICT Competition 2019-2020, held at Huawei’s global headquarters in Shenzhen, China.
Over the course of 2019, the competition attracted more than 21,000 student registrations from 437 colleges and universities in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
This year’s final had a total of 13 teams and 20 ministries participating from countries across the Middle East.
Bahrain’s team placed second in the competition.
The winning teams received special certificates and trophies at the finale, as well as the opportunity to conduct field experiments at Huawei’s specialised labs and research centres at its global headquarters, collaborating with some of the brightest minds of the industry.
Winners received their prizes during a ceremony attended by Steven Yi, member of the supervisory board and president of MEA region at Huawei, Bahrain’s Ambassador in China Anwar Alabdulla, and Dr Li Jihong, deputy director of Unesco Centre for Innovation in Higher Education.
The winning teams were selected based on a three-month qualifying period, during which each competed against their national counterparts to earn their place in the regional finals.
Qualifying rounds included working in real ICT laboratories, getting up-to-date with key technologies such as cloud computing, AI, Big Data and 5G.
In the final round, teams competed in day-long competitions, which included technology workshops with global ICT experts and discussions with senior delegates from Huawei.
Huawei is keen to support the development of the ICT ecosystem in Bahrain, said the company’s Middle East president Charles Yang.
“We congratulate our winners, and all of the teams who made it to the Huawei Middle East ICT Competition 2019 Final. This year’s field of competition was especially strong. Each team participating in the final round represents some of the brightest talent from their country, as well as from the region. Seeing so many gifted young people gives us great confidence in the future of ICT in the Middle East.”
The final round of the Huawei ME ICT Competition included the ICT Talent Education summit roundtable with ambassadors and chancellors from the participants’ countries.
During the panel, participants discussed several pertinent topics, including the rapid development of technologies such as 5G, AI, and cloud, and how they are leading the way towards business growth and societal development, and the shortage of ICT talent in the Middle East who are ready to adjust to the new intelligent digital era and be accountable for supporting their country’s national ambitions.
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