In a move reflecting the accelerating pace of digital transformation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Interior, in partnership with the Tuwaiq Academy, concluded the “Absher Tuwaiq” hackathon, the largest technology hackathon of its kind, as part of preparations for the “Absher 2025” conference. The event was held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Interior, at the Riyadh Front Exhibition and Convention Center.
Strategic partnership for building the future
This hackathon is the culmination of collaborative efforts between the government and technology sectors. The event, which ran from December 11th to 13th, witnessed fierce competition among a select group of young Saudi minds and talents. Its primary objective was to develop innovative digital solutions that contribute to enhancing the services of the Ministry of Interior, aligning with the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, which aims to build a digital society and a knowledge-based economy.
The event was not limited to local competition, but gained a global character through the participation of major technology companies such as (NVIDIA), (Meta), (Google Cloud), and (Huawei), which gave participants the opportunity to interact with the latest global technologies in the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Winning teams and million-dollar prizes
The closing ceremony saw the announcement of the 15 teams that qualified to win substantial cash prizes totaling SAR 1,000,000, in addition to special support of SAR 450,000 from the National Information Technology Development Program (NTDP) to transform these ideas into successful entrepreneurial projects. The list of distinguished teams is as follows:
- The Shadow Team
- (Arrival) team
- (Wathiq) Team
- (Attention) Team
- HRS team
- Evacuation team
- Team (Hope)
- (Preemptive) team
- Al-Dahna team
- Inspire team
- (Falcons of the Nation) team
- Thaqib team
- (Voice of the Future) team
- (Manea) team
- YS Advance Int Team
Dimensions of the event and its expected impact
The significance of the “Absher Tuwaiq” hackathon lies in the fact that it is not just a one-off competition, but rather part of a massive initiative aimed at empowering more than 100,000 beneficiaries across seven technology tracks in 16 cities throughout the Kingdom. This geographical expansion reflects the Ministry of Interior and Tuwaiq Academy’s commitment to discovering talent in all regions, thus strengthening the base of qualified national talent to lead the digital future.
The innovative solutions resulting from this hackathon are expected to contribute to raising the efficiency of electronic services provided to citizens and residents, reducing operational costs, and increasing the speed of response in security and civil services, thus consolidating the position of the “Absher” platform as one of the most successful models of e-government worldwide.
Towards the Absher 2025 Conference
This hackathon paves the way for the launch of the “Absher” 2025 conference, scheduled to be held from December 17 to 19 in Riyadh, in strategic partnership with the Saudi Data & Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA). The conference will present a new concept for showcasing the latest national innovations, reinforcing the Kingdom’s global leadership in leveraging technology to serve humanity and enhance security.
