The conference, organized by King Abdul Aziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba) under the theme: “Journey Toward the New Future”, is being held in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah.
In her welcome speech, Mawhiba Secretary-General, Amal Al-Hazzaa said that what connects all the participants in the conference is their motivation, passion, and thirst for knowledge, emphasizing Saudi Arabia’s global leadership in supporting and nurturing talented youth.
Al-Hazzaa also expressed her gratitude to the Saudi Ministry of Education, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), NEOM, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY), the Education and Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC), and the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), for being Mawhiba’s success partners, describing their contribution as being of great value.
In her speech, the Secretary-General stressed that science, on its own, cannot provide food to those feeling or showing the need for food, adding that science also cannot heal those who are sick or help build a prosperous society.
Therefore, she further said, science and technology should be applied so that we can achieve the desired results. She also pointed out that the global talent platform that will be launched during the conference will be at the highest level; for the world’s best talented minds are participating in this conference.
After that, a group of talented youth performed an art show using technology to portray their dreams. In an innovative and creative way, their presentation depicted the culture of the conference and its humanitarian project, which mainly aims to find solutions to world problems and envisage the future of technology and science. The show also included launching the global platform for talented youth, announced at the conference.
Following the show, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal officially inaugurated the conference and announced the launch of its various activities, which include the main sessions and group challenges for the participants as well as the scientific sessions for a number of the world’s most prominent experts and innovators.
The prince then honored the Mawhiba's strategic partners before the audience could watch introductory films about these partners.
The scientific committee of the conference met with the participants in the first preparation session to outline the objectives of the ‘Idea-thon’ sessions, their work methodology, a description of its nine stages, the challenge sessions, and the arbitration mechanism for selecting the winning ideas.
Moreover, the committee members urged the participants to benefit from their interaction at the sessions. They also highlighted the importance of the platform in helping the participants get to know each other and overcome any social barrier, in a way that is hoped to assist them in forming teams during the challenges to come of the ideathon.
