The KAUST Challenge "Shaping the Future of Media", implemented by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in partnership with the Asbar World Forum, witnessed the participation of more than 700 creators, innovators and national and local companies, who since the beginning of the competition have presented creative ideas and solutions to the most important challenges facing media, which would contribute to shaping the future of this sector in the Kingdom and the world.

The participants come from 37 countries from around the world, most notably India, Pakistan, the United States, Britain and France, in addition to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in which more than 200 male and female competitors participated, who presented innovative ideas and solutions that would help in advancing the country's national priorities and support 2030 Vision.

Participants competed on a wide variety of 13 topics, most notably content filtering, electronic games, data privacy and security, ecosystem support, content protection, inclusiveness and accessibility, content creation, content distribution, insights and analytics, media localization, regulatory barriers, and content noise. and setting ideal standards.

Out of the 700 participants, 15 of them qualified for the finals. Three contestants are to be crowned with the grand competition prizes, after the remaining contestants were eliminated in the third stage. These prizes will be handed over to them during a special ceremony held under the patronage of the Acting Governor of Riyadh, His Royal Highness Prince Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman bin Abdulaziz, on Saturday evening, the 30th of October, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh.

All the entries were evaluated by a jury of 28 scientists from inside and outside the Kingdom who have been sorting applications for several weeks to choose the most important and creative ideas and solutions that will be transformed into large investment projects that will be adopted by specialized institutions, who would provide support and guidance, including: Facebook, Google, Microsoft among others.