Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the ruler of Dubai, called upon the graduates of the One Million Arab Coders initiative to compete in the initiatives challenge and develop projects and solutions using the skills they acquired during their participation in the program.
It was announced that the grand prize for the most groundbreaking coding project is $1 million, and five runners-up will receive $50,000 each. In addition, four of the best trainers will win $25,000 each.
The projects of Interested graduates can be submitted through the official website of the One Million Arab Coders initiative: www.arabcoders.ae.
The evaluation of the entries will be conducted by a jury of experts in coding, technology, and entrepreneurship from the UAE and abroad. The winners will be announced at ceremony held at the Expo 2020 Dubai venue towards the end of the year.
Led by the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) and within the framework of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI), One Million Arab Coders was the biggest enterprise of its kind in the world that had the objective of teaching one million young people from the Arab world how to code.
In spite of the obstacles and logistical challenges posed by the coronavirus outbreak in 2020, the initiative successfully achieved its goal within the set timeframe of three years.
In a series of tweets posted on his official Twitter account, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum praised the achievements of the One Million Arab Coders initiative, saying: “One million Arab coders from 80 countries joined the most important programme to train them in the language of the future… through five million working hours, 76,000 training workshops, 100,000 successful graduation projects and 1,500 scholarships for outstanding students… a great achievement for our Arab youth in three years.”
He added: “The process of development and digitalization in the region continues under the leadership of the UAE. The graduates of the One Million Arab Coders are invited to participate in the biggest coding challenge announced from Dubai to the
Sheikh Mohammed also announced recently the launch of the National Program for Coders in partnership with Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco, IBM, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), LinkedIn, NVIDIA, and Facebook. The scheme seeks to train 100,000 coders, establish 1,000 digital companies that will go global, and increase start-up investments from AED1.5 billion to AED4 billion.