As part of the National Program for Artificial Intelligence, the UAE government has announced the launch of the Coders HQ, a new project that re-defines and supports local coding communities, in partnership with more than 40 tech companies in the UAE and worldwide.
Fostering talent
Coders HQ aims to build a new generation of coders, and to foster their skills in the fields of coding and technology, to empower them with the tools and expertise required for the economy of the future, and to provide them with the opportunity to design innovative solutions to address local and global challenges.
According to local sources, Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Teleworking Applications said that His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum sought to develop advanced coding communities as a key driver for shaping the future and harnessing the new, fast-growing digital economy, and consolidating the UAE’s position as a global hub for talents, startups, and innovators.
Innovative solutions
Al Olama went on to say that the project is part of the UAE’s vision for preparing a new generation of coders who will find innovative solutions to future challenges, explore new opportunities to build a competitive knowledge-based economy, and create a comprehensive development process based on investing in skills and talents to build their future capabilities. Coders HQ will provide an incubating and educational environment in which skilled coders can innovate to create solutions to contemporary and future challenges.
As part of the National Programme for Coders, the Coders HQ features an advanced technological infrastructure to facilitate the coders’ work and includes an events space, a supercomputer, and several workspaces. In the near future, six additional Coders HQs will be inaugurated around the UAE. The program has four main objectives, to assess the skills of coders in the UAE, to develop them, to enable continuous communication among coders in the UAE and abroad, and to provide coders with opportunities to help them enhance the UAE’s leadership in the field.
Nine initiatives
The project comprises of nine central initiatives, HQ learn the provision of practical training courses in different coding fields to different levels of coders, HQ assessment, whereby the Coders HQ will provide a mechanism for evaluating the skills and performance of coders, HQ meetups, which focuses on developing and incubating software communities in all fields, and HQ challenges, which will administer private sector challenges, the winners of which will receive prizes.
HQ Coders will also run HQ hackathons in partnership with the private sector, where winners will be eligible for prizes. HQ conferences will host international events specialized in coding, HQ get inspired will hold a series of sessions presented by CEOs and technical influencers, HQ internship will provide training opportunities for Emirati graduates in digital companies, and HQ 021, a joint project with the United Arab Emirates National and Reserve Service Authority (UAENSR), will develop the talents of national service coders and help them reach international standards.
Training programs
The Coders HQ also announced the creation of training programs for Emiratis to assist them in entering the private sector, and to provide them with the best global knowledge to hone their skills. 40 government, semi-government, private and academic entities will provide support to the training processes, including Abu Dhabi University, Majid Al Futtaim Holding, Microsoft Middle East and Africa, IBM, Presales MERAT, Meta, Rabdan Academy, the American University in Dubai, DP World, ADNOC, and VMware.
The UAE government has previously worked with companies including Google, Microsoft and Amazon to provide training for coders prior to the launch of the Coders HQ.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Technology Express staff and is published from a syndicated feed)
