The national winners in Lebanon from this year’s Huawei Middle East ICT Competition, held under the patronage of the Ministry of Telecommunications (MoT) and in partnership with the Lebanese Association for Developing Information and Technology (L.A.D.I.T), have now been announced, with one team – comprising three students and one professor – participating in the regional finals of this year’s event.
The annual competition welcomes thousands of college and university students from Lebanon and the wider Middle East, enhancing students’ future employment through knowledge sharing on the latest ICT developments.
Due to social distancing rules, this year’s Huawei Middle East ICT Competition saw students participate virtually in the annual competition. All registered students took part in a Preliminary Competition and Training Enablement, followed by a National Exam that was held online.
The winners of this year’s competition were Ibrahim Maassarani, Maya Massaad and Joe El Housseini. They received honors such as a Huawei certification and other awards. This year’s winning teams were chosen from a field of 20 finalists in Lebanon, who competed following the preliminary round involving more than 345 competition entries from 12 universities.
Congratulating the winners, Space Lee, Vice President of Huawei Middle East, said: “Our congratulations go out to the winning national teams as well as everyone who participated in this year’s competition. Such robust participation has demonstrated the immense capacity for Lebanon’s youth to combine innovation and creativity in using digital solutions. Building local ICT talent is an investment in the future of the country itself, and will ultimately equip Lebanon to better pursue digital transformation, their national development plans, and ambitious visions. This year’s competition was well-received amongst the student community in Lebanon, who adapted to the virtual edition with great ease, demonstrating their flexibility and innovative spirit.”
General Director of the Ministry of Telecommunications, Engineer Bassel Al-Ayoubi, said: “The Huawei Middle East ICT Competition is an exceptional platform to foster an interest in this essential sector. We are proud to have supported this initiative once again, as we believe in the value of nurturing young talent who will represent a connected future for our country.”
Huawei is committed to growing the global ICT talent ecosystem by investing in youth and providing development and training opportunities that will enable them to become leaders in the ICT field. Through this worldwide social responsibility initiative, Huawei seeks to enhance knowledge transfer, promote a greater understanding of and interest in the technology sector, and to encourage regional participation in the growth of the digital community and economy.
In 2020 specifically, virtual activities such as skills-development training and roadshows have been conducted in coordination with Huawei’s state-of-the-art labs and leveraging Huawei’s global experts worldwide. The addition of an Innovation Competition in 2020 has also helped raise the bar in promoting local innovation, supporting participants in using cutting-edge ICT platforms to create valuable and meaningful applications for society.