# Riyadh disability conference opens; 159 teams qualify for hackathon phase

> The Saudi conference opened on October 11; 159 teams qualified for the seven-week acceleration phase of its AI hackathon for people with disabilities.

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- Publisher: Newsverum
- Section: Society
- Country: Saudi Arabia
- Published: 2026-10-12T00:06:31+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-12T00:06:31+00:00
- Event / data period: 2026-10-11
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Riyadh Region Governor Prince Faisal bin Bandar opened the Seventh International Conference on Disability and Rehabilitation on October 11. Organized by the King Salman Center for Disability Research, the three-day programme covers health, rehabilitation, education and social issues, as well as genomic research, assistive technology, artificial intelligence and accessibility.

The Saudi Press Agency reported that 159 teams qualified for a seven-week expert-supervised acceleration phase in an accompanying AI hackathon intended to develop technology based on the needs of people with disabilities. The teams were preparing to present their projects to judges at a later final stage; SPA did not report winners or deployed solutions.

## Data

### Hackathon teams

Teams that qualified for the acceleration phase.

Methodology: According to SPA’s October 11 report; the final stage was still pending.

| label | value | unit | period | basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams qualifying for acceleration | 159 | count | 2026-10-11 | observed |

Sources: <https://www.spa.gov.sa/en/N2698740> · Download data: [JSON](https://newsverum.com/api/v1/articles/riyadh-disability-conference-opens-with-159-hackathon-teams/data/hackathon-teams?lang=en&format=json) · [CSV](https://newsverum.com/api/v1/articles/riyadh-disability-conference-opens-with-159-hackathon-teams/data/hackathon-teams?lang=en&format=csv)

## Sources

- [Saudi Press Agency (SPA)](<https://www.spa.gov.sa/en/N2698740>) (Source checked: 2026-10-12; Published: 2026-10-11)

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