As Part of the Events of the SPECTO Annual Schools Forum 2026, Held Under the Theme "Powered by Skills, Driven by Impact," SPECTO Organizes the Tech4Impact 2026 Competition for School Students

As part of the events of the SPECTO Annual Schools Forum 2026, held this year under the theme "Powered by Skills, Driven by Impact," SPECTO organized the Tech4Impact 2026 competition for school students. The event aimed to provide students with a platform to apply their skills and knowledge in developing practical projects and solutions, turning their ideas into applications that demonstrate their ability to leverage technology in addressing various needs and challenges.

The competition featured the participation of 40 student projects, encompassing a wide diversity of concepts, fields, and solutions developed by the students. Out of these, 11 projects qualified for the final stage held at the Dead Sea, where students presented their projects to the audience and showcased what they had developed.

The qualified projects were distributed across two tracks: 6 projects in the AI for Good track and 5 projects in the Smart Business Solutions track, reflecting a rich diversity of ideas, solutions, and applications where students applied technology in distinct ways. The competition concluded with the honoring of projects based on their results in each track, alongside recognition for all students who reached the final stage, acknowledging their achievements throughout their journey in the competition leading up to the finals platform.

During the finals, students explained the underlying ideas, problems, or needs that inspired their work. They demonstrated how their solutions and prototypes operate, as well as the real-world value their projects could deliver in practical applications.

Presenting the projects to the audience formed a key element of the students' experience in the final stage. Their participation went beyond developing the projects to explaining the ideas, presenting the solutions, and discussing their accomplishments before educational leaders, school representatives, and attendees. This experience afforded them the opportunity to showcase their capabilities, sharpen their presentation and communication skills, and boost their self-confidence in expressing their ideas and presenting their work to others.

Students from accredited SPECTO schools maintained a proud presence in this experience. Their participation reflected the dedication of their schools to building digital skills and offering opportunities for students to transition from learning to practical application. When a student stands before such an audience to present a project they worked hard to build, the impact of investing in their skills becomes remarkably clear and tangible.

In this context, the Chairman of the Board of Directors at SPECTO, Prof. Dr. Ahmad Abu-El-Haija, noted that seeing students stand before the audience and present the projects they developed is a source of pride for the students, their families, and their schools. He emphasized that the value of this experience transcends the competition and its results; it grants students an opportunity to display their potential, express their ideas with confidence, and see what they have learned transform into a project they can present and discuss before others.

Tech4Impact 2026 allowed students to undergo a comprehensive hands-on experience, starting from problem identification and idea conceptualization, moving through solution development and testing, and culminating in presenting, explaining, and defending their work. This strengthened their ability to connect knowledge with practical application and provided them with competencies extending beyond technical skills to critical thinking, analysis, problem-solving, and communication.

Furthermore, the projects reflected a diverse range of student interests and highlighted models of student innovation, demonstrating methods for harnessing technology to build scalable solutions and actionable ideas.

The Tech4Impact 2026 competition served as a practical component of this year’s forum activities. Alongside discussions regarding the skills students require for the future, the competition placed students and their projects at the center of the experience, offering a practical model for moving from skill acquisition to implementation, and from concept to realization.

This experience underscores the importance of providing practical spaces for school students alongside the learning process—spaces that offer them the opportunity to discover their capabilities and interests, test what they have learned, work on their ideas, and express them before others with confidence.

Through Tech4Impact, SPECTO continues to support initiatives that provide school students with broader opportunities to apply their skills and explore their capabilities in digital and technical domains, encouraging them to view technology as a tool for thinking, development, and innovation, rather than merely for consumption.

The competition thus embodies one of the core messages of the SPECTO Annual Schools Forum 2026: that the true value of skills does not stop at acquisition, but shines when students find the space to deploy them, develop their ideas, and convert what they have learned into an impact that can be built upon.