In a new step to enhance innovation and creativity in the field of programming and artificial intelligence among children and youth, Shagoof, a leading company in the field of training, programming, and artificial intelligence, intends to organize the “Codeavour” competition in Egypt in cooperation with the Indian “Stempedia” for the first time next February.
Dr. Ahmed Afifi, CEO of Shagoof Company and the “Codeavour” competition, announced during a press the launch of the competition in Egypt, noting that “Codeavour” is the largest international competition in the field of artificial intelligence and programming for children.
He stated that the competition aims to attract 12 to 18 thousand competitors and their parents and that schools and companies specializing in teaching programming and robotics will participate in it through groups of teams consisting of students.
Afifi continued his speech, saying: The organization of this competition in Egypt emanates from “Shagoof.net” company’s firm belief in the importance of enhancing technical education and developing programming skills among children and youth in Egypt, to enable them to keep pace with the accelerating technological development.
He pointed out that Stampede chose Shagoof to organize the “Codevor-egypt.com” competition in Egypt, considering that Shagoof is the exclusive agent for all the Indian company’s products in Egypt and the Middle East, which primarily focuses on presenting artificial intelligence content to children in distinctive ways.
He stressed that the main goal of organizing the Codeavour competition is to spread the culture of artificial intelligence and programming in a way that favors producing projects capable of creating and innovating solutions to the problems facing the world, such as global warming, protecting the environment from climate change, protecting plants and forests, lack of water resources, and other sustainable development goals.
He explained that the nature of the projects that will compete in the competition includes innovative and creative ideas based on programming using the Pictoblox program only, or through programming with electronic chips that help in producing integrated projects of robots that help solve societal problems and support economic development.
For his part, Engineer Shadi El-Desouki, general coordinator of the “Codeavour” competition in Egypt, said during the press conference that the value of the prizes distributed in the competition at the local level is scheduled to be about 250,000 Egyptian pounds, but it reaches $25,000 at the international level, in addition to making a number of prizes available. Fellowships and sponsorship programs are offered to qualified student projects.
He added that it is also scheduled to provide workshops and qualification programs for supervisors of student training operations in schools and companies participating in the competition.
Al-Desouki explained that the fields of programming and artificial intelligence are among the most vital fields, developing rapidly and contributing greatly to innovation and economic and societal development.
He stressed the importance of the state’s role in stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship in the fields of programming and artificial intelligence, starting with developing specialized educational curricula in this field, in addition to the importance of its support for all initiatives and competitions in these fields to help young people financially and technically to develop their ideas and projects.
Al-Desouki stressed the need for the government to join hands with the private sector to encourage joint research projects to develop and provide all matters related to tools, technologies, and infrastructure in this field.
