115 participants this year and 22 innovative and qualitative projects from Bahrain’s youth
On the sidelines of the activities of the Space Applications Challenge Hackathon in its fifth edition.. Al-Aseeri: 115 participants this year and 22 innovative and qualitative projects from Bahrain’s youth
Dr. Mohamed Ebrahim Al-Aseeri, CEO of the NSSA, stressed the importance of organizing the Space Applications Challenge Hackathon in its fifth edition at Bahrain Polytechnic, which is a qualitative leap in the organization of scientific events that contribute to enhancing the importance of space science.
He said that the hackathon is an opportunity to employ technical sciences, computers and engineering, and opens the way to find international cooperation between the participating teams, as the hackathon is held in cooperation with 11 space agencies from around the world, and the Kingdom of Bahrain is represented by the National Space Science Agency as the only Arab agency in it.
He said that these events contribute to the achievement of a common scientific goal, where science represents the path of peace and communication between the various countries of the world, and the International Space Station represents a source of cooperation and peace where everyone works for science, serving the planet and ensuring peaceful coexistence, which are lofty goals that are in line with the approach and vision of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, in spreading and promoting peace and coexistence.
Dr. Al-Aseeri explained that the organization of the hackathon in its fifth edition, began with the entry of the first week of October where the world celebrates Space Week, and said that the projects submitted through the working groups will all be transferred to NASA to be studied and considered, the goal of the hackathon is to create new ideas from outside the box, and the best three projects will qualify to participate in a larger global competition and the winner of it will be invited to visit NASA in the United States of America.
Dr. Al-Aseeri said that the organization of this year’s hackathon in Bahrain, came in a more extensive manner, as it represents one of the largest global and scientific events, where 115 certificates of participation were approved, a number that exceeded the previous numbers during the past years, and the level of organization was raised by the introduction of two new partners, the Bahrain Society of Engineers and the Bahrain Polytechnic, and expected a greater increase in the number of participants next year.
Dr. Al-Aseeri pointed to a significant increase in the awareness of youth and participants and their great awareness of the importance of applications of future sciences and the possession of twenty-first century skills and sustainability skills as well, as they are the ones entrusted with carrying the flag of the future, and pointed out that the opportunity to participate next year is open to employers, companies, the business sector, artists, retirees, engineers, craftsmen and others, as the competition provides quality search engines for open global data from the global space agency NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Al-Aseeri pointed out that this year’s slogan (Make Space), a slogan that summarizes the goal of organizing the hackathon, and the organizers have agreed to ensure the participation of youth and raise their interaction with the competition, which provides an opportunity to transform the creative innovative product into different projects that simulate the future.
For her part, space engineer Reem Senan from the NSSA said: Bringing together participants from various disciplines provides an opportunity to find qualitative solutions to the space problems identified by NASA as 22 problems, and pointed out that the projects are subject to local and global evaluation as well, stressing the great ability of young people to innovate and present the new.”
Engineer Ali Abdullah Jassim, from the Bahrain Society of Engineers explained that the participation of youth in this year’s space hackathon is an important and qualitative participation, as it targets youth and students from different disciplines, and contributes to increasing the motivation for creativity and integration between disciplines, and working within teams where ideas converge, as the Society of Engineers supports such important projects and distinguished scientific initiatives in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Aysha Johar, one of the organizers from the Bahrain Polytechnic, stressed the demand of youth and their great pleasure in working during the hackathon, as the work projects presented show the extent to which the participants enjoyed the event, which was supported by global search engines that provide the required data as soon as they search for it, and said that the working groups were successful and integrated and provide the opportunity for collective thinking and the search for qualitative solutions that are not hammered by creative and new ideas.