Today, Tuesday, the Minister of Energy and Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, honored the six winning teams of the first edition of the Energy Hackathon, during the closing ceremony hosted by the events of the 25th edition of the World Petroleum Congress in Riyadh, according to what was reported by Okaz newspaper.
The awards were distributed to the first and second places in the three tracks on which the hackathon was based, namely operational efficiency, innovative vision, and smart control, where the winning teams moved to a new phase of the entrepreneurial track.
The first edition had attracted more than 6,700 competitors from more than 40 cities in the Kingdom, forming more than 1,200 teams, of which more than 35 teams comprising over 145 innovators qualified for the hackathon camp, according to what the newspaper reported.
The King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), as the hosting partner, hosted the hackathon camp during the period from October 7 to 9, where the teams worked on developing their solutions through daily mentoring sessions with specialists from the energy sector, specialized workshops, and two dialogue sessions that discussed the future of the sector and entrepreneurship within it, before concluding with judging rounds before specialized committees that resulted in the selection of the six teams.
The winners move on to an intensive four-week bridging program, aimed at raising the readiness of their projects and preparing them to join business incubators and accelerators, paving the way for transforming the winning solutions from an idea into an application, within the framework of the Ministry of Energy's efforts to entrench a culture of innovation and empower national talents, in line with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030.