Iraqi Kurdistan enters a global technology contest
For the first time in Iraq, Microsoft is seeking talent from its Kurdish region. Students from the universities of Iraqi Kurdistan Region would be able to take part in Microsoft’s renowned international technology talent competition, Imagine Cup.
This was announced yesterday in a joint KRG and Microsoft news conference in the region’s Capital Erbil. Ghassan Chahine Head of Imagine Cup Levant of Microsoft and Botan Mahmoud Osman, KRG’s Head of IT, called on students from the region’s public and private universities to take part in the competition.
Imagine Cup is a Microsoft-sponsored competition held in a different country each year. Imagine Cup 2011 will be held in New York, the USA.
Imagine Cup brings together young technologists worldwide to help resolve some of the world’s toughest challenges through technology-enabled applications
Through this competition, Iraqi Kurdish students will contribute to meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals by designing software solutions addressing the challenges to meet these goals.
The UN Millennium Development Goals include 1- End Poverty and Hunger; 2- Universal Education; 3- Gender Equality; 4- Child Health; 5- Maternal Health; 6- Combat HIV/AIDS; 7-Environmental Sustainability; and 8- Global Partnership.
Participants have until April 1st to submit their software solutions to imagincup@krgit.org to the Imagine Cup Kurdistan panel. Then on the 12th of the same month the KRG winner will be announced who would then go to New York City for the world finals.
The KRG’s head of IT department, Botan Mahmoud Osman described this late participation in the international contest as yet another attempt to put the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on the “world’s digital map”. He said that the late participation of the region adds another challenge to the participants, “but great ideas are often inspired in a single moment of time. I am confident that our participants will make the headlines”.
The KRG Department of Information Technology is the lead Information Technology agency in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Founded in 2007, it is mandated as the highest authority on IT in the region. Its mission is to lead the development of IT and modernise the KRG through a unified IT policy. It is currently implementing a five year IT strategy for the region to deliver e-government and increase ICT capacity and development in the region.
For updates on the department’s activities sign up to our facebook.com/krgit and twitter: @KRGIT
Additional information can be obtained by contacting:
Public Relations, Department of IT
Kurdistan Regional Government, Iraq
Email: pr@krgit.org
Tagged in: Iraqi investment, Iraqi Kurdistan, KRG, Kurdistan, Kurdistan economy, Kurdistan investment, Kurdistan Regional Government, Microsoft, The Other Iraq
