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Iraqi team prevails at Huawei ICT Competition Global Finals.
Iraqi team prevails at Huawei ICT Competition Global Finals, wins Grand Prize at the Innovation Competition and Tech4All Award
The team from Salahaddin University showcased a mobile app that uses audio, vibration and visual cues to help deaf, blind and deaf-blind people communicate with each other and others
Iraq, July 07, 2022: A team from Salahaddin University in Iraq has won the Innovation Competition Grand Prize in the Global Finals of Huawei ICT Competition 2021-2022 in Shenzhen, China. The ICT Competition’s sixth edition attracted 150,000 students from more than 2000 universities in 85 countries and regions worldwide, competing in three categories: Practice, Innovation and Industry.
The team, comprised of Rwaid Luqa Hanna, Nyaz Irfan Mustafa, Steven Sliwa Matti and supervised by Ms. Silva Hekmet Matti developed a mobile app to serve deaf, blind and deaf-blind people. The application uses audio, vibration and visual cues to help them communicate with each other and with others. The Iraq team also took the Tech4all Digital Inclusion Award, a prize given to highlight the use of technology, applications and skills to empower people and organizations everywhere.
The Iraqi team was one of three Middle Eastern teams participating in the Innovation competition finals and the only team outside China to win the Grand Prize in the contest. The Innovation track required students to build solutions with significant social and business value using technologies such as AI, IoT, big data, cloud and mobile Internet.
Two other Iraq teams won first and second prize in the Practice Competition, among other global winners. The winning students belonged to different universities including Salahaddin University-Erbil, University of Nineveh, Anbar University, and Lebanon French University -Erbil.
The Practice Competition includes the Network and Cloud Tracks, which examine students’ theoretical knowledge and hands-on ICT skills as well as their ability to work in a team. Participants are ranked according to their scores in theoretical and lab exams.
Peter Wells, Chief of UNESCO’s Section for Higher Education, spoke at the event via a video link, praising the competition’s ability to give students worldwide free access to educational courses and study materials as part of their preparation for the competition. He expressed hope that UNESCO and Huawei will continue working together to improve the digital skills and technological literacy of global talent, promote balanced and equitable development across regions, and bridge the global digital divide.
Steven Yi, Huawei Middle East President, said, “We congratulate the three teams from the region who reached the Innovation Competition finals, especially the Iraqi team for taking home the Grand Prize. The team’s invention reinforces Huawei’s position that technology remains a potent tool to effect positive change and spur socio-economic growth. The Tech4All award also reiterates Huawei’s commitment to promoting digital inclusion. We will continue working with our industry and academic partners to bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world.” This year’s participants were also the first to compete for a new series of Women In Tech Awards which have been designed to honor the outstanding talent displayed by the young women contestants in the
competition. Huawei has been committed to supporting women with more opportunities and access to the education and training needed to improve their ICT skills and promote gender equality across the industry.
Huawei hosts the ICT Competition annually to provide students with a platform to compete and exchange ideas, enhance their ICT knowledge and practical skills, and foster their capabilities to innovate by using new technologies and platforms. After making it through the national and regional competitions, the teams faced off in the largest global finals yet.
The Huawei ICT Competition is one of several CSR initiatives by Huawei to nurture talent for Middle East youth. Together with the Huawei ICT Academy, the Huawei Innovation Competition, Seeds for the Future program, joint university labs, and other initiatives, thousands of young people in the region benefit from an advanced skills development pipeline every year, equipping them with the necessary skills to lead digital transformation and development efforts within their country.