In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, King Abdulaziz and his Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba) announced today that middle and high school students in Saudi Arabia can register for the National Olympiad for Scientific Creativity “Ibdaa 2025.”

During the enrollment period, which ends on 30th September 2024, candidates must submit a scientific project in one of 22 areas that have been identified as national priority.

“The Olympiad witnesses broad participation from various sectors, starting with the Ministry of Education, represented by gifted education departments, and extending to universities and research centers. The goal is to build a thriving community founded on knowledge and innovation”, stated Dr. Khaled Al-Shareef, the Secretary General of Mawhiba.

He underlined that thousands of gifted students benefit from this yearly journey with advisors and mentors, which gives them the tools they need to finish their research assignments. Additionally, it helps to prepare national cadres, who can advance the Saudi Vision 2030 and address National and Global pressing problems.

"Ibdaa" is a scientific competition held every year where participants submit their own scientific projects that meet certain standards and requirements. A prestigious group of experts and scholars evaluates these projects online based on predetermined internationally audited scientific criteria, nominating the best ones for advancement to ISEF and other competitive events around the world.

The Olympiad goes through six organizational steps that begin with registering student information, providing training lectures for supervisors and students, organizing regional educational fairs, and electronically registering project data and uploading them to the "Mawhiba" Platform. In the third step, a small group of judges evaluate the project concepts online.  Applicants' names for central fairs are announced, and Ibdaa templates are uploaded online.

Step four focuses on planning the central fairs and related training sessions in four cities held in December 2024, announcing the finalists, and updating participants' project details. In step five, the Ibdaa Science and Engineering Fair will be held in Riyadh in February 2025. Finally, in step six, a program that prepares participants from across the world to participate in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) will be held in February 2025, with subsequent participation in the fair to be hosted in the US in May 2025.

The National Olympiad for Scientific Creativity "Ibdaa" seeks to stimulate creativity in students of science, technology engineering, and computer science, discover hidden talents among the nation's students, and improve their research and invention abilities. It also aims to showcase Saudi Arabia on global platforms in competition with many countries through extraordinary projects.

It is worth noting that the last edition of the Ibdaa 2024 Olympiad attracted more than 210,000 students from 48 educational districts around the Kingdom. Of these, 35 students qualified to represent Saudi Arabia in the ISEF 2024, which will be hosted in the US in May 2024.