LG Electronics supports AI skills development to help young people with disabilities worldwide enter society

[Financial News] LG Electronics held an international competition to help young people with disabilities around the world strengthen their artificial intelligence (AI) skills and enter society. This year, marking the competition's 15th anniversary, organizers also arranged an opportunity for the winner of the inaugural competition to encourage participants. 
LG Electronics said on the 29th that it held the finals of the 2026 Global IT Challenge for Youth with Disabilities (GITC) in Da Nang, Vietnam, over three days starting on the 27th. The competition was hosted by LG and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and co-organized by LG Electronics, the Korea Association for the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities, and local social enterprises and universities in Vietnam. 
GITC is an international competition launched in 2011 to improve young people with disabilities' information technology (IT) skills and support their entry into society. Over the past 15 years, around 5,000 young people with disabilities from 41 countries have participated. This year, 81 young people with disabilities who advanced through preliminary rounds in nine countries—including South Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Kingdom of Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines—made it to the finals. 
Participants competed in four categories: 'e-Combination,' which assesses AI-based information retrieval and document-processing skills; 'e-Content,' a video-production category using an AI platform; 'e-Creative,' which tests autonomous vehicle programming skills; and 'e-Interactive,' which involves creating games that use AI to respond to movement and voice. Cultural exchange activities, including learning traditional Vietnamese dance and visiting a museum, were also held on the final day of the competition.
This year, Shin Gi-hun, who won the information search category at the inaugural competition held in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2011, attended the opening ceremony and cheered on the participants. Shin is currently researching technology for implementing AI in smart devices as part of a doctoral program at Pusan National University.
Yoon Dae-sik, executive vice president in charge of external relations at LG Electronics, said, "Through GITC, we will continue to create opportunities for young people with disabilities around the world to experience new technologies, including AI, and demonstrate their abilities." 
[email protected] Lim Su-bin Reporter