The Beirut AI Bootcamp — January 2020

We want to start off this bootcamp highlight with a heart-felt thank you to everyone who was committed to attending every single day. We know that the situation in Lebanon at the moment is not ideal. The streets were on fire, yet so many participants and the members of our team were determined to make every single day of the bootcamp count, whether in person or remotely. You made this a more remarkable experience than we could have asked for.

The bootcamp journey began with an introduction to Data Science which allowed the participants to test the waters before the instructors helped them dive deeper into more specialized topics. During the next four days, the participants went through both the theoretical and practical aspects of Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing, and Time Series Analysis. Every day, the participants left with a hands-on project that showcased the skills they acquired from that day. For a more detailed account of the content of the bootcamp check out our August 2019 Recap.

This six-day journey ended with a Hackathon to challenge the participants to creatively use what they learned during the bootcamp. The participants ideated, formed teams and created AI solutions for real-life problems. As with the previous bootcamp, we were surprised and proud at just how much talent our community has and we know you will never cease to amaze us!

This time around we saw just how diverse our community actually is. We always knew that AI was for everyone, and it is one of our goals to give as many people access to the right resources. We were so happy to see such a wide range of ages attending, from the undergraduate to the seasoned professional, all looking to gain more knowledge and arm themselves with better skills. We were also extremely happy to have more female presence at the bootcamp this time and hope to see even more representation in the future.

Finally, we would like to thank our sponsors, partners, judges and the entire team of Beirut AI from the organizers, instructors, and volunteers! Thank you to Microsoft for being our education partner for this bootcamp to provide the participants with certificates of completion. We also want to thank the Asher Center For Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) for providing us the venue for the bootcamp. And finally our sponsor Zaka!