Hamdan Centre For Giftedness And Innovation Secures Second Place in Champion’s Award at FIRST® LEGO® League Asia Open Championship 2026
Hamdan Centre for Giftedness and Innovation, a part of the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Medical and Educational Sciences, secured second place in the Champion’s Award at the FIRST® LEGO® League Asia Open Championship 2026. This achievement took place in Beijing from August 13th to 16th, 2026.
This landmark result marks the highest placing ever achieved by an Emirati team in international FIRST® LEGO® League competitions and is the first time a UAE team has finished among the top three in the Champion’s Award.
The Champion’s Award recognizes a team’s overall performance across several key areas, including:
- Innovation Project
- Robot Design
- Robot Performance
- Core Values
Dr. Khalifa Al Suwaidi, Executive Director of the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, expressed his pride: "We are proud of what our students have achieved in one of the leading international competitions in robotics and innovation…" He continued, "Securing second place reflects a high level of knowledge, skills, and disciplined preparation."
This success is attributed to an integrated development pathway that identifies talent, provides training, and offers participation in local and international competitions.
The team’s journey began at the local level, winning the Dubai FIRST LEGO League competition and subsequently becoming the 2025-2026 UAE champions. This earned them the chance to represent their country at the Beijing international championship.
Prior to the event, the team underwent a specialized preparation program focusing on:
- Robot design and programming using LEGO Education
- Analysis of season challenges
- Engineering solution development
- Innovation Project
- Presentation skills for judging sessions
- Critical thinking, teamwork, communication, and competition simulations.
