Organized By the University for the First Time, with the Participation of 12 Arab Countries Two Students from UoB Win First and Second Place In The “Bahrain Artificial Intelligence Challenge “

Sakhir – University of Bahrain – Mansoor Al-Wanni
26 September 2022
The President of the University of Bahrain (UoB), Dr. Jawaher bint Shaheen Al-Mudhahka, expressed theUniversity and all its affiliates’ pride in the successive achievements of its students in various scientific and technical fields, stressing that the University’s students show their ability to compete and challenge in regional and international competitions all the time, and present high scientific levels of creativity during their participation in local, regional and international forums.
This came after “Bahrain IoT and AI Challenge 2022” program announced that two students from the College of Engineering at UoB won the first and second places with their graduation projects, among 12 participating Arab countries. Dr. Al-Mudhahka congratulated the students on their victory and praised the members of the academic staff in the College of Engineering for their efforts in building students’ knowledge, and working to refine students’ scientific and technical skills, especially in artificial intelligence.
The organizing committee – chaired by Prof. Dr. Mohab Manjood, a professor at the College of Engineering at UoB – announced that Farooq Abdulaziz, a student with a master’s degree in artificial intelligence systems at the College of Engineering at UoB and an executive applications specialist in the Information Technology Department of the General Secretariat of the Parliament, won first place in the graduation projects category, as he presented his project of a smart system to monitor water consumption using Internet of Things (IoT) technology.
While the second place in the startups category was awarded to Eng. Salman Al-Shaikh (a graduate of UoB) with his project “Fuzion”, which enables blind people to recognize equipment, faces, and paper money and to move around using artificial intelligence without the need for assistance from others.
Morover, both Jassim Ahmed Al-Assali and Eng. Mohammed Jalal (graduates of Bahrain Polytechnic) won the first place in the startups category, as they presented a project for a smart buoy used for fishing and saving divers from drowning using long-range communication technology, navigation systems and IoT.
In addition, Abdullah Mohammed Al-Khabbaz, (Bahrain Polytechnic graduate) won the second place in the graduation projects category, as he presented a system that alerts consumers if their electricity consumption exceeds the initial tariff.
For her part, the Dean of the College of Engineering at UoB, Dr. Shaikha Haifa bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, confirmed in the closing ceremony speech that through the challenge, the College of Engineering sought to support university students (at the level of the Kingdom of Bahrain), and emerging companies to develop their capabilities and skills. She added, “The College of Engineering aims to achieve community partnership with the entities that support and encourage innovation, growth and development to achieve the goals of sustainable development in our dear Kingdom.
The Dean further stated that, ” Bahrain IoT and AI Challenge, sponsored by the University of Bahrain, is the first of its kind in the Kingdom of Bahrain, stemming from the Arab IoT and AI Challenge.”.
Dr. Haifa Bint Ibrahim stated that the winner of the first place in the graduation projects category and the winner of the first place in the startups’ projects category will qualify for the Arab finalists that will be held within the activities of the GITEX in the Emirate of Dubai from 10 to 14 October 2022.
While the “Bahrain Challenge” is a national program that seeks to incubate ideas and build different capacities for university students and startups that have innovative ideas in the areas of the IoT, AI and other related fields.
Bahrain IoT and AI Challenge program aims to raise awareness on the importance IoT and AI, as the two fields play the largest role in changing and developing all current industries, which serves the digital transformation process. As the challenge program seeks to provide an opportunity for university students and startups in the Kingdom of Bahrain, to compete by presenting qualitative innovative projects in AI and IoT journals. In addition, it provides support to the participating teams through training workshops and guidance during the challenge period.
In addition to the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, the State of Palestine, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, the Kingdom of Morocco, the Republic of Tunisia, and the Lebanese Republic participated in the challenge program.
Dr. Shaikha Haifa bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Dean of the College of Engineering at UoB, represents the Kingdom of Bahrain in the Arab IoT and AI Challenge, which is being held for the sixth year in a row, with the participation of more than 5,000 participants in three main tracks: school students, graduation projects, and startups in the Arab countries. As the past years witnessed the participation of more than 358 startups, 2173 graduation projects, and 516 projects from the high schools.
The Bahrain Challenge Program was co-sponsored and organized by: The Good Word Society as a partner, the Communication Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE ComSoc), the UNIDO Office for Investment and Technology Promotion, Brinc Batelco, Startup MGZN and localbh.
The honoring ceremony was attended by the Vice President of Academic Programs and Graduate Studies at UoB, Dr. Mohammed Reda Qadir, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Good Word Association, Hassan Bu Hazaa, and the Vice President of the Arab IoT & AI Challenge, Eng. Mohammed Aboud.

• 
•