Cairo: Some 233 teams of innovators, developers and students from around the world are currently gathering at a competitive brainstorming event in the Saudi city of Medina aimed at harnessing artificial intelligence in the cultivation and production of date palms.
The hackathon, running through October 3, focuses on developing AI solutions to smart cultivation of date palms, a popular product in Saudi Arabia. The event, held on the sidelines of the current Medina Dates Season, offers a pool of SR900,000 prizes.
There are more than 33 million palm trees spread across 13 areas in the kingdom, mainly in Riyadh where there are nearly 8 million trees. Other Saudi areas famous for dates growth are Qassim with 7 million trees and Medina with 4 million.
With palm dates being a principal Saudi product, the fruit has recently been transformed into sweet, nutritious tablets proving popular with children. Marketed in several tastes and colours, the tablets are made of ground dates powder with no artificial additives.
The exports of Saudi dates surged by 14% to hit SR1.4 billion last year to a total of 119 countries, according to the National Centre for Palms and Dates.
The sector significantly contributes to several transformational industries including food, medical and cosmetic products as well as fodder.
In recent years, there has been growing interest in the kingdom in transformational industries as part of an ambitious plan to diversify oil-reliant economy.
