Saudi Students Shine at Huawei ICT Competition, Advance to Global Finals
Saudi Teams Triumph at Huawei ICT Competition Regional Finals
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 20, 2024: Saudi university student teams achieved notable success at the Huawei ICT Competition Middle East and Central Asia (ME&CA) 2024-2025 Regional Finals, held over three days in Riyadh. A Saudi team secured first place for their project “NABEEH” in the Innovation Competition, earning the “Most Popular Team” award after receiving the most votes from attendees. Additionally, three other teams representing Jeddah University, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Tabuk University, King Saud University, and Bisha University secured third-place finishes across the Network, Cloud, and Computing tracks.
Winners Announced Across Multiple Tracks
During the awards ceremony, attended by over 300 university students from 19 countries, Huawei announced the 16 winning teams from the Middle East and Central Asia, who will advance to the global finals, which will be held in China next May. The event recognized exceptional performance across Cloud, Network, Computing tracks, and innovation competitions, celebrating the achievements of students and instructors from leading regional institutions.
Two student teams from Lebanon secured the grand prize in the Cloud and Computing Tracks. In the Innovation Competition, a team from Qatar emerged victorious, claiming the Grand Prize for their project ‘Be My Sense.’ The first prize category was shared among several teams: a Saudi team for their project ‘NABEEH,’ an Uzbekistan team for ‘Sahiya,’ and a Pakistani team for ‘PRISM.’ Second prizes were awarded to a Kazakhstani team for ‘Plantos,’ a Jordanian team for ‘3asheqHuawei’, an Iraqi team for ‘EcoGuardians,’ and another Saudi team for ‘CS2R’. Muhammad Zubair, Consultant at the Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science, was awarded the inaugural Grand Prize for Instructors, a new category introduced this year at the Huawei ICT Competition finals.
The event was attended by a distinguished gathering, including Mr. Ibrahem AlNasser, Deputy Minister for Future Jobs and Capabilities at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology; His Excellency Mr. Chang Hua, Chinese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia; His Excellency Dr. Adel Al-Zunaidi, Deputy Governor of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC); His Excellency Mr. Zhan Tao, Director of UNESCO IITE; His Excellency Mr. Sherzod Shermatov, Minister of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan; and Dr. Suliman Almazroua, CEO of the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program.
Regional Partnerships Drive ICT Education
His Excellency Dr. Adel Al-Zunaidi, Deputy Governor of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), and a strategic partner of the competition, said: ‘I congratulate the Saudi students and all the winning teams in the regional competition finals. I hope they succeed in achieving advanced positions in the global finals for which they have qualified. We at TVTC value our partnerships with the private sector to train and qualify talents for the digital age. We aim to empower young people through initiatives like the Huawei ICT Competition, fostering their leadership in the digital world and driving the realization of Saudi Vision 2030.”
Zhan Tao, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE), said: “The Middle East and Central Asia has a passion for leading innovation and great potential for future development. The Huawei ICT Academy and ICT competition have become a regional flagship, a collaborative network, and an innovative engine for cultivating young digital talents. UNESCO IITE is proud of its collaboration with Huawei and other partners from the region. We wish to continue and further extend the current collaboration to engage more young talents and more partners from the Middle East and Central Asia in our shared mission and goal of achieving quality education and a successful world with peace and prosperity.”
H.E. Sherzod Shermatov, Minister of the Ministry of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan, said: “Digital talents are the driving force behind the digital economy, uniting countries and regions in a shared vision of building an intelligent world. Today, we celebrate the invaluable contributions of governments, the private sector, academia, and international organizations through the Huawei ICT Academy program. This initiative opens new doors of opportunity for young ICT visionaries, equipping them with valuable practical experience. We are committed to deepening these fruitful collaborations to ensure a brighter digital future for the next generation.”
Steven Yi, President of Huawei Middle East & Central Asia, reflected on the competition’s impact and said: “ICT talents are the lifeblood of digital transformation. We gathered at this prestigious awarding ceremony to invest in our young people, who are an investment in our lives and future. We should target skilled digital talents who can solve complex industrial problems using Intelligent technologies. Through initiatives like the ICT Competition, we continue to support the development of digital talent who will drive innovation in their respective nations.”
Steven Yi also revealed that Huawei will officially launch the “T.H.E. Gold Talent ” program in 2025. This program is an evolution of the current talent cultivation program to meet the requirements of the AI Era. It aims to focus on introducing more advanced courses on AI to solve complex industrial scenarios related to the Middle East and Central Asia Region. It also focuses on utilizing advanced technologies like 5G-A, cloud, and AI-based ICT education, smart classrooms in transforming higher education, and helping universities cultivate more competitive all-around digital intelligence talent. The program also targets more proactive collaboration and offers parallel HR programs to unleash the talent’s value through jobs and interns.
During the event, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the ICT Academy, a series of awards were presented to partners, instructors, and students. King Saud University, the University of Bahrain, Bahrain Polytechnic, and Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Science & Technology, among others, received the ‘Best Partner Award’, which recognized and appreciated their continuous efforts and innovations in driving digital transformation.
Unprecedented Participation in 2024-2025 Competition
The competition’s success reflects its growing significance in the regional technology education landscape. This year’s Hauwei ICT Competition has seen unprecedented participation, with over 31,000 student registrations from 640 regional universities and colleges in 19 countries. The competition featured 290 participants in the Innovation Track and 30,900 participants in Practice Competitions, competing across multiple tracks, including Cloud, Network, and Computing. Participants underwent comprehensive assessment through written exams and hands-on lab work, while the innovation track featured both online and onsite defense rounds. It has also garnered support and endorsement from UNESCO, along with over 40 regional ministries, operators, and industry partners.
This milestone event builds upon Huawei’s decade-long commitment to ICT talent development in the region. Through partnerships with 106 ICT academies managed by six ICT Academy Support Centers (IASCs), the program has trained over 300,000 students and certified over 35,000 professionals. This extensive network of 2,000+ qualified instructors continues to play a vital role in developing the digital workforce needed to support the region’s technological advancement.
The regional finalists will now participate in the global finals of the Huawei ICT Competition, which will take place in May 2025 in Shenzhen, China.
