Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Foundation "Misk" has concluded the events of the second edition of Saudi Coding Initiative, as Riyadh culminated the winners of the final contest of Saudi Coding. The Initiative was launched on September 2, 2018, targeting all parts of the Kingdom, and has spread to other parts of the world, with users from 139 countries, 192 cities and villages from across the Kingdom interacting to achieve a record number since its inception with more than one million beneficiaries. The Initiative has been introduced in a number of tours, including 10 Saudi cities, a number of workshops and training courses to teach logical and analytical thinking and problem solving techniques, and enable society members to acquire 21st century skills. A total of 1,025,971 participants attended distance courses, with more than 18,000 ambassadors in their societies from universities, schools and organizations. Women accounted for 52% of participants compared to 48% of men, while 2% of participants over the age of 65. Executive Manager of Misk Innovation Deemah Alyahya welcomed the partnership between public, private, and non-profit sectors, saying, "This partnership has brought new skills and opportunities to a wider array of people than ever before. Together we are demonstrating that coding skills can and should be brought within anyone's reach, and together we are empowering people with knowledge, skills, and coding confidence they need for a bright future in the Knowledge Economy. In doing so, we are driving the digital transformation of the Kingdom and ensuring its place on the global front-line of innovation." Saudi Coding Initiative is one of Misk Foundation's initiatives aiming at enhancing technical knowledge and one of the largest interactive training programs being implemented in the Kingdom. The second edition of the Initiative is in partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Saudi Telecom Company (STC), with interaction and participation of 71 different bodies of schools, universities, government and private sector institutions, as well as a number of digital, social, technical and cultural initiatives.
