Students from Uzbekistan won awards at the Huawei ICT Competition 2024-2025 held in Riyadh.

The event was attended by representatives from the public sector, international organizations, and academia, including the Minister of Digital Technologies of Uzbekistan, Sherzod Shermatov; the Deputy Minister for Future Jobs and Opportunities of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ibrahim Al-Nasser; the Ambassador of China to Saudi Arabia, Chang Hua; the Deputy Director of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), Dr. Adel Al-Zunaidi; the Director of the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education, Zhang Tao; and the General Director of the National Program for Industrial Development and Logistics, Dr. Suliman Almazroua.

The project from Uzbekistan, Sahiya, presented by three students from TUIT, won first place and was recognized by the jury for its innovation in digital inclusivity. The project is an application designed for individuals with hearing and speech impairments, aiming to digitize sign language and provide online translation of sign language into other languages. The solution is based on artificial intelligence models and cloud technologies. Additionally, students from TUIT and Inha University, who participated in the Huawei ICT Competition 2024-2025 Practical Contest, became prize winners, securing third place in the Network track. The ceremony highlighted the contributions of ICT Academy instructors in the region. For instance, TUIT instructor Azamat Kodirov was honored in the "Outstanding New Instructor" category for training over 50 students at the Huawei ICT Academy, obtaining international HCIA certification, and achieving remarkable results for the ICT Academy at the university.

Sherzod Shermatov, the Minister of Digital Technologies of Uzbekistan, congratulated the students on their achievements and, during his opening speech at the award ceremony, noted: "Digital talents are the driving force of the digital economy, uniting countries and regions in building an intelligent world. Today, we celebrate the joint contribution of the public and private sectors, academia, and international organizations to the activities of the Huawei ICT Academy, which creates new opportunities and helps young ICT visionaries gain valuable practical experience. We look forward to strengthening fruitful cooperation for a better digital future for the younger generation."

Zhang Tao, the Director of the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE), stated: "The Middle East and Central Asia demonstrate a strong commitment to innovation and possess significant potential for future development. The Huawei ICT Academy and ICT Competition have become a regional flagship program, a platform for collaboration, and an innovative driving force for the development of young digital talents. IITE UNESCO takes pride in its collaboration with Huawei and other partners in the region. We aim to continue and expand our current cooperation to attract more young talents and partners from the Middle East and Central Asia to our common mission and achieve the goals of providing quality education and creating a world full of peace and prosperity."

Steven Yi, President of Huawei for the Middle East and Central Asia, shared his thoughts on the role of ICT competitions: "ICT talents are the lifeblood of digital transformation. We gather at this prestigious award ceremony to invest in our youth, which in turn is an investment in our lives and future. We must focus on skilled digital technology professionals who can meet the challenging demands of the industry using intelligent technologies. Through initiatives like the ICT Competition, we continue to support the development of digital talents that will drive innovation in their countries."

Steven Yi also announced the T.H.E. Gold Talent program for 2025. This program represents an expansion of the current talent development initiative in response to the demands of the artificial intelligence era. The project aims to introduce more advanced AI courses to address complex industrial scenarios relevant to the Middle East and Central Asia region. The program will also focus on implementing cutting-edge technologies such as 5G-A, cloud solutions, and ICT education based on artificial intelligence, "smart" classrooms for transforming higher education, and assisting universities in preparing more competitive digital specialists. The program also aims for more active cooperation and offers parallel personnel management programs to unlock the value of talent through job placements and organizing internships.

The success of the ICT competitions reflects its growing significance in regional technological education. This year, the Huawei ICT Competition 2024-2025 attracted an unprecedented number of participants: over 31,000 students registered from 640 regional universities and colleges across 19 countries. The Innovation Competition featured 290 participants, while 30.9 thousand took part in the Practical Competitions focused on cloud, network, and computing tracks. Participants underwent comprehensive assessments through written exams and practical lab work, with the Innovation Competitions including both online and in-person defense rounds. The ICT Competition has received support and endorsement from UNESCO, as well as over 40 regional ministries, telecommunications operators, and industry partners.

This landmark event continues Huawei's decade-long commitment to developing ICT talents in the region. Through partnerships with 106 ICT academies, managed by six ICT Academy Support Centers (IASC), the program has trained over 300,000 students and certified more than 35,000 specialists. This extensive network of over 2,000 qualified instructors continues to play a vital role in developing the digital workforce necessary to support technological advancement in the region.

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