Dubai Future Foundation said Monday that the jury has finished evaluating the projects that qualified for the final stage of the ‘One Million Arab Coders’ challenge.
Launched last year by Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the challenge has provided participants from around the world with the opportunity to showcase their innovative ideas based on programming techniques and applications, and compete for prizes totaling $1.35 million.
The jury comprises a group of experts in programming, technology and entrepreneurship– Fadi Ghandour, Chairman of Wamda Capital; Bashar Kilani, Managing Director of Accenture Middle East; Dr. Abdul Latif Al Shamsi, Director of the Higher Colleges of Technology and Ronaldo Mouchawar, Vice President of Amazon in the Middle East.
The committee worked to select the most prominent software projects based on a set of criteria, including the quality of the idea, economic feasibility and technology employment, an official statement said.
A total of 20 projects made it to the final stage of the challenge, the best of which will receive the $1 million grand prize, in addition to honoring five runners-up. Also, $25,000 will be awarded to each of the four best trainers in recognition of their prominent role in training Arab programmers and empowering them with innovation and creativity skills.
Khalfan Juma Belhoul, CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation, praised the efforts of the members of the jury in evaluating all the participating projects from around the world.
According to the statement, the jury revealed that the programming projects participating in the ‘One Million Arab Coders’ challenge were distinct due to their focus on strengthening the knowledge-based economy, adding that some of the participating applications and projects excelled in the use of technology in a remarkable manner in various vital sectors, while other projects were outstanding in investing coding in community service.
Supervised by the Dubai Future Foundation, the ‘One Million Arab Coders’ initiative is one of the global initiatives of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and has attracted more than one million young men and women from about 80 countries, to develop their programming language skills, the statement added.
The program’s affiliates participated in about 5 million hours of study and work, and 76,000 training workshops, and completed 100,000 successful graduation projects.
More than 1,500 grants were afforded in the advanced “Nanodegree” programming courses to exceptional participants, and it also provided support to those wishing to learn programming via its platform through the participation of more than 3,600 certified trainers from around the world, to help them with technical aspects and provide technical support and tips to transform their ideas into practical projects.
The ‘One Million Arab Coders’ initiative provided the opportunity for its affiliates to learn many programming skills and apply them in the areas of developing websites and mobile applications, as well as many other technological sectors such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, data and cloud computing.