Team from Lebanon comprised of 3 students claim third place with Lebanese tutor claiming the ‘Excellent Tutor’ award
Lebanon – December 29, 2020: The Huawei Middle East ICT Competition 2020, the largest competition for students and universities in the Middle East, has now come to a close, with winners of the annual event being announced following several months of national and regional competitions between some of the region’s brightest young minds and leading academic institutions. Held virtually this year in respect of social distancing measures, the finals saw 13 teams of talented students compete from 10 countries, with Lebanon’s team claiming third place.
The annual competition sees Huawei and various partners in government and academia contribute towards the development of ICT talent ecosystems, nurturing young talent while also fostering an innovation mindset amongst the next generation of ICT leaders. In 2020, the competition witnessed the participation of 20 ministries and government authorities, received 15,000 entries from 440 local colleges and universities in 10 Middle East countries.
This year, Lebanon’s team comprising of 3 students, Maya Massaad, Ibrahim Maassarani, and Joe el Housseini claimed third place, and one tutor, Dr. Bassem Haidar from the Lebanese University won the ‘Excellent Tutor’ award. The Lebanese University, which is an ICT Academy in Lebanon, also won the “Excellent Academy” award. All winning teams received special certificates and trophies presented virtually by local Huawei representatives as well as valuable Huawei products as gifts.
Charles Yang, President of Huawei Middle East, said: “On behalf of Huawei, I offer hearty congratulations to our winners and everyone who participated in this year’s competition. This has been an exceptional year in many ways, but it has also never been a more important time to support young people in developing their talent and creativity with cutting-edge technology. Today ICT are the building blocks of an intelligent society. By taking advantage of global knowledge and best practices through these competitions, we are able to bridge the gap between the classroom and the workplace, increasing national ICT competitiveness while encouraging local communities to contribute to national visions for digital transformation and socio-economic development.”
Today Huawei is committed to growing the region’s ICT talent ecosystem by investing in youth and providing development and training opportunities that facilitate connections between international talent. By openly collaborating with public and private sector entities in the Middle East, the company also seeks to promote a greater understanding of and interest in the technology sector, while enhancing students’ future employment opportunities in an increasingly digital economy.
Through the ICT Competition which has witnessed the participation of over 60,000 students in 4 years, Huawei plays a key role in developing an environment of openness, collaboration and shared success, which will nurture a more successful and cohesive future for connectivity on a nationwide and, indeed, global scale in the years and decades to come. It comes in line with Huawei’s strong belief in building the ICT ecosystem, encouraging knowledge and experience transfer, while bridging the digital divide and promoting digital inclusion.
About Huawei
Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains – telecom networks, IT, smart devices, and cloud services – we are committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world.
Huawei’s end-to-end portfolio of products, solutions and services are both competitive and secure. Through open collaboration with ecosystem partners, we create lasting value for our customers, working to empower people, enrich home life, and inspire innovation in organizations of all shapes and sizes.
At Huawei, innovation focuses on customer needs. We invest heavily in basic research, concentrating on technological breakthroughs that drive the world forward. We have nearly 194,000 employees, and we operate in more than 170 countries and regions. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.