UNDER the aegis of the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, Alawwal bank and Microsoft Arabia hosted an event to celebrate the local winners of Imagine Cup and Imagine Earth competitions. The event took place at the Ministry of Education in Riyadh. Soren Nikolajsen, managing director at Alawwal bank, said: "We are very proud of our partnership with Microsoft Arabia, now in its sixth year. These joint initiatives aims to cultivate innovation across the Kingdom, and I think I can speak for everyone here today when I say, I have been impressed with the fantastic creativity on display." "The Imagine Saudi initiative seeks to educate students on the importance of technology and is helping them to develop the skills needed to succeed in a landscape being transformed by technology. Five years from now, many skills that are essential in today's workforce will be obsolete. Initiatives like these are vital in helping young Saudi's to make a valuable contribution to Saudi Arabia's transformation into a knowledge-based society," he added. Samir Noman, the president of Microsoft Arabia, commented: "Our partnership with Alawwal bank and the Ministry of Education has helped to increase the level of participation in the initiatives and has supported in making the competitions the success it is today. Imagine Saudi is fully aligned with the Kingdom's objectives to support innovation and raise awareness of technology and digital technology in the society." Noman also expressed his admiration of the level of creativity shown throughout the competition, "Many of the projects we've seen were very innovative and advanced. The most creative ones were nominated for the Arab finale," he said, adding "That Microsoft Arabia is proud of this technology competition which has proven to be a competitive platform that attracts talents and provide them with the inspiration to come up with innovative ideas and projects. It also paves the way for them compete on a global level." Imagine Cup is a global competition that empowers the next generation of computer science students to team up and use their creativity, passion and knowledge of technology to create applications that shape how we live, work and play. Every year tens of thousands of students from across the globe compete for the honor of taking home the Imagine Cup. The local winner team "S Cubed" will be competing in the regional finals against other teams from the Arab world in May in Lebanon. The finalists will then join the global competition which will be held in Seattle in the United States this summer. The competition is expected to attract participants from more than 190 countries across the world.
