São Paulo – After the conclusion of the ‘One Million Arab Coders’ initiative, the project alumni will have a new challenge in the field, which will award a USD 1 million prize for the best programming solution developed. The challenge was launched by the vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and head of government of Dubai, emir Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (pictured above, middle).
The USD 1 million grand prize will be given to the most innovative project. Five projects will win the second-tier prize of USD 50,000 each. The top four coaches will also receive a USD 25,000 prize each.
Interested programmers can submit their projects through the official website of the One Million Arab Coders initiative until October 30. Entries will be appraised by a jury of experts in coding, technology, and entrepreneurship from the UAE and other countries. The selected finalists will travel to Dubai from December to January to present their projects. Winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held in February 2022 during Expo 2020 Dubai.
Al Maktoum launched the initiative in October 2017 to teach coding to one million teenagers in the Arab world. As part of the program, selected candidates learned many programming skills and processes in website and mobile app development, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and cloud data and computing.
The initiative, led by the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) and under the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI), achieved its goal in three years.
“The future is full of endless opportunities waiting for innovative ideas. The One Million Arab Coders Challenge opens its doors and welcomes talents who seek to follow the trends of digital transformation to transcend its limits, improving themselves even more and actively developing the digital economy of their countries as a whole,” said Al Maktoum on Twitter.
The Vice President of the UAE has also recently launched the National Program for Coders in partnership with global technology giants including Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Linkedin, Facebook, and others. The idea is to train 100,000 programmers, establish 1,000 digital companies with global outreach, and increase initial investments from AED 1.5 billion (about USD 408.3 million at the current rate) to AED 4 billion (about USD 1.09 billion).
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
