The Advisor to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Governor of the Makkah Region, His Royal Highness Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, honored the students of the UQU College of Computer and Information Systems who won awards in the competition of “Makkah Days for Programming and Artificial Intelligence”. This competition was one of the initiatives of the Makkah Cultural Forum held in the Jeddah Super Dome, with the participation of the university and a number of the relevant bodies, to present technical entrepreneurial ideas that support the national efforts exerted in serving the Makkah Region.

The “Digital Tajweed” proposal, which was presented by the group of female students: Nada Saeed Al-Ghamdi, Ashgan Muhammad Bisri, Asmaa Ahmad Al-Thaqafi, and Tuqa Esmatullah Andijani, won the second place in the challenge of the “Hajj and Umrah” stream. The “Digital Tajweed” is a technical application that focuses on automating the surveillance of the grouping of pilgrims on Al-Jamarat Bridge in three phases using artificial intelligence techniques.

The “Dori” application, which was presented by the group of female students: Raghad Muhammad Al-Dais, Jumana Muhammad Faraj, Ruba Turki Al-Ghamdi, and Shaimaa Abdul-Rahman Al-Attas, won the second place in the “Services” stream. The “Dori” application aims to decrease the lighting costs for spaces designated for walking and playgrounds. This is implemented by utilizing the kinetic energy released in these spaces and using Pavegen tiles, which convert kinetic energy to electric energy in the areas that most consume electricity.

The UQU President, Prof. Moaddi bin Muhammad Aal Madh-hab, asserted the role of the educational institutions in investing all the capabilities and enabling the students to take part in building their nation with their creative ideas, in collaboration with different sectors. Accordingly, this will contribute to unifying the efforts and automating joint work in order to improve the services offered to the society and to enrich the experience of the guests of Al-Rahman.

The Dean of the College of Computer and Information Systems, Dr. Saud Al-Otaibi, stated that the college participated in the different streams of the competition with five teams, each of which consisted of 20 students. During the competition, the participants presented a number of entrepreneurial ideas for technical applications that will contribute to improving the services offered in the region. This will contribute to developing the students’ skills and to activating their role in serving their nations with the knowledge they have acquired.

Dr. Al-Otaibi outlined that all the proposals that participated in the competition were reviewed and followed up by the relevant UQU entities in order to improve and develop them, so as to turn them into technical ideas that can be adopted and implemented both inside and outside the university. Dr. Al-Otaibi praised the efforts exerted by the Emirate of the Makkah Region in promoting the role of computer technologies and supporting the use of artificial intelligence in applications that contribute to creating the concept of a Smart Makkah.

The other participations include technical initiatives for the challenge of the “Hajj and Umrah” stream, such as the “Himmat Makkah” application, which analyzes the data of patients frequenting health units during the Hajj season and predicts cases of heart attack hours before a heart attack occurs. This will enable the health sector to be prepared to receive the patient. In addition, “Al-Nour” application aims to collect the data of the pilgrims using smart cards that record the pilgrims’ movements from the time they arrive at the Saudi Kingdom until they depart to their countries. This data is submitted to the relevant entities where they will be used in creating an organized plan to manage the crowds in a highly efficient manner. Moreover, the “Takamul” application, which was part of the challenge of the “Tourism and Entertainment” stream, presents a detailed plan for domestic tourist trips and displays lists of the services offered in the tourist attractions, giving the visitors enriching information about them.

In addition, the university participated in the meeting to develop the digital capabilities that was held during the sessions of “Makkah Days for Programming”. The UQU Vice President for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Dr. Ali Al-Shairi, represented the university in the meeting by participating in the “Digital Innovation” stream, and the UQU Vice President for Educational Affairs, Dr. Amer Al-Zaidi, participated in the “Activation of the Role of the Universities in Acquiring Modern Digital Skills” stream. In addition, a number of the academic staff members, employees, and students visited the Makkah’s Digital Projects Exhibition and learned about the technical initiatives held by the students who participated in the competition.