Huawei has announced the launch of the 11th Huawei ICT Competition 2026–2027 in the Middle East and Central Asia (ME&CA), a long-running initiative aimed at equipping youth with practical technology skills, encouraging innovation and strengthening collaboration between academia and industry.

Open to university students and teachers, the Huawei ICT Competition serves as an international platform for the participants to strengthen their ICT knowledge and practical capabilities, exchange ideas and develop skills relevant to the changing technology landscape. Through progressive stages of competition, the participants have the opportunity to advance from national and regional rounds towards the Global Final, connecting emerging ICT talent from around the world.

The 2026–2027 edition of Huawei ME & CA ICT Competition features three competitions and five tracks spanning several areas of technology. The Practice Competition includes Network, Cloud and Computing tracks, covering areas such as datacom, security, WLAN, data centre networks, cloud, artificial intelligence, openEuler, openGauss and Kunpeng. The Innovation Competition features an AI Innovation Track focused on areas including general-purpose AI, agents, computing, storage, ModelEngine and Nexent, while the Teaching Competition includes the Industry-Education Collaboration Track.

Cong Liang, Chief Strategy Officer of Huawei Middle East and Central Asia Region, said: “The Middle East and Central Asia is building an intelligent and digital future, and developing a strong pipeline of skilled young talent is critical to sustaining that progress. The Huawei ICT Competition brings universities, students, and the technology ecosystem closer and gives participants an opportunity to build practical capabilities in areas that are shaping the next phase of digital development, from cloud and computing to artificial intelligence. We aim to help build the skills that will support the region’s digital ambitions for the coming years.”

Since the first regional edition in 2016–2017, the Huawei ICT Competition has grown significantly across the ME&CA. Over the past 10 years, more than 180,000 teachers and students from over 800 universities in 19 ME&CA countries have participated in the Huawei ICT Competition.

The competition has worked alongside international and educational organisations to broaden access to digital skills and learning. It is associated with the UNESCO Global Skills Academy partnership project and has been featured on the China Association of Higher Education’s list of national university and college student competitions.

Students and participating institutions across the Middle East and Central Asia can learn more about the Huawei ICT Competition 2026–2027 and the relevant competition tracks at https://e.huawei.com/en/talent/ict-academy/#/ict-contest