Year-end Review: Saudi Arabia Makes Bold Strides at Scientific Olympiads in 2024
Saudi Arabia has made bold strides towards establishing a more knowledge-based economy focused on elevating the scientific scene in the Kingdom.
Through international Olympiads, the Kingdom has shown excellent performance and strong participation throughout 2024.
International Artificial Intelligence Olympiad (IAIO)
Saudi Arabia’s SDAIA hosted the first global edition of the International Artificial Intelligence Olympiad (IAIO) with over 25 countries participating from September 8th to 12th, 2024.
The event comes in collaboration with ICAIRE and IRCAI in Slovenia, sponsored by UNESCO.
SDAIA aims to establish an international platform for AI competitions, nurturing talent, enhancing skills, and facilitating global knowledge exchange in the latest AI advancements, inspiring youth worldwide, including young women, to engage with AI technologies.
In preparation, SDAIA conducted virtual AI lectures over five weeks on the Olympics website, covering various topics such as AI introduction, societal impacts, kernel methods, data handling, deep generative models, learning methods, and AI applications.
The Olympiad marked the first international event to be organized in Riyadh with a valuable opportunity to interact with thinkers, innovators, professors, and experts from all over the world.
This interactive platform drew the attention of young people to these cutting-edge technologies and encourage other countries to organize similar competitions in the future.
Thus, the participants had an opportunity to engage in active discussions, explore the various applications of artificial intelligence, and unleash the potentials of Saudi talented young people.
Interestingly, the Olympiad boosted the concept of organizing the AI competitions for secondary school students and motivated them to find smart solutions by designing algorithms based on learning, data structure and programming.
The IAIO was part of SDAIA’s efforts to enhance Saudi Arabia’s global standing in data and AI, aligning with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 by raising awareness and fostering skills in advanced technologies for communities worldwide.
International Standards Olympiad in Korea
Saudi Arabia took part for the first time in the International Standards Olympiad competitions in Korea in August, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The Saudi participation was part of a strategic partnership between King Abdulaziz and his Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity “Mawhiba,” the Saudi Standards, Metrology, and Quality Organization, and the Ministry of Education.
The students came in three teams out of 40, comprising 120 students from 11 countries.
Held from August 10 to 15 in Asan, Korea, the event aimed to share knowledge and visions about measurement and exchange new ideas about standards and technology.
The teams went through preliminary rounds before the main competition. Then the participants did certain tasks designed to stimulate their knowledge and competence in the world of measurement and challenge their problem-solving skills.
The International Standards Olympiad represented an international competition held annually for middle and high school students.
In 2006, it began as a local competition in South Korea, then turned into an open international competition in 2014.
International Informatics Olympiad in Egypt
In September, Saudi Arabia participated at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). Two brilliant students, Adeeb Al-Shehri and Ahmed Al-Hashem, secured bronze medals at the prestigious event held in Alexandria, Egypt.
The Kingdom boasted six international awards, four bronze medals and two certificates of appreciation, from previous competitions.
World Artificial Intelligence Competition for Youth (WAICY)
Saudi Arabia has recently secured the first place in the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Competition for Youth (WAICY), the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The Kingdom has achieved a remarkable milestone capturing 22 medals and exceeding over 18,000 students from 129 countries.
By securing gold, silver, and bronze medals, as well as special awards, the Saudi students have surpassed students from various countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Greece, Canada, and Singapore.
Therefore, this extraordinary performance stands as a living proof of the Kingdom’s revolutionary growth and unparalleled excellence in data and artificial intelligence (AI).
Crucially, the competition highlighted the participation of 1,298 Saudi students with 662 innovative projects. That is why the Kingdom has secured the highest number of medals and awards among all participants.
Represented by primary, middle, and high school students, Saudi Arabia has competed across four tracks, AI Showcase, AI-Generated Art, AI Large Language Model, as well as AI-Generated Video.
Supported by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), the competition plays a pivotal role in encouraging students to learn and use AI technologies and recognize their huge impacts in our lives.
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