Students selected from 71 universities and 511 teams attended Bangladesh’s largest programming contest, “CODE SAMURAI 2022” held from December 20th to 21st on the auspicious occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the friendship between Japan and Bangladesh and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the University of Dhaka.

“CODE SAMURAI” is Bangladesh’s largest hackathon contest, designed to discover and train young engineers who will lead the future of the IT industry in Bangladesh and Japan.

The first “CODE SAMURAI 2019” leading up to this contest was held in December 2019 with 100 teams from around 30 universities. The second contest, which was planned for 2020 and 2021, could not be held due to the influence of the new coronavirus, but this year, there were applications from 511 teams (1,533 people) of university students majoring in computer science from 71 public and private universities.

After a selection period of about one month, consisting of 500 teams in the preliminary test, 150 people from 50 teams were selected to proceed to the final round to tackle programming challenges with the theme of solving social problems. In selecting the themes, the committee considered topics that solve social issues in Bangladesh with IT. With the cooperation of more than 20 companies and organizations, such as Japanese government agencies and private companies, they have decided to participate in this contest as sponsors and partners.

This time, sponsoring companies have provided participating students in this contest with an opportunity to do an internship in Japan. Thus, for students, it was a golden opportunity to gain work experience that will add great value to their career development on a global scale.

The CODE SAMURAI Steering Committee, representing the COO of BJIT, Mehedi Masud, and CEO of  Global Geeks Co., Yasuhiro Akashi, jointly with Dr. Upama Karim Kabir, Professor CSE DU, Dr. Mamun Or Rashid Professor CSE DU Department.

BJIT with the support of JICA, JETRO, JBS (Japan Bangladesh Society), and B-JET along with our sponsors Marubeni, Shinkoshuppansha Keirinkan Co. LTD, Forval, Enzan Koubou, Chowakigen, Nicollap, Universal Computer System, Light Cafe, BJIT INC.  aims for economic development in both countries, contributing to the improvement of the shortage of IT human resources in Japan and the creation of employment opportunities in Bangladesh.

The purpose of Code Samurai is to discover and train engineers, which has now been fulfilled as Dhaka University’s team ‘DU Mountain DU’ won, the 1st runner-up was the team ‘BUET Storms End’ and the 2nd runner-up was the team ‘DU Hacker’ of DU. Moreover, the top 8 teams received exciting gifts and prize money as a recognition of their outstanding performance.

Additionally, all the teams had the chance to network with the Chief guest, Dr. Mohammad Hasan Mahmud, Information and Broadcasting minister, presided over by Professor Dr. Mohammad Samad, and several other representatives and CEOs of more than 15 renowned IT companies in Japan at Code Samurai 2022.

At the closing ceremony, Minister of Education Dr. Dipu Moni referred to Japan as one of Bangladesh’s development partners and trusted friends for providing cooperation in various fields, including education and culture, and said that this competition is very important in developing the talent of students coming from different parts of the country.

The VC of Dhaka University urged the CSE department to work on the development and expansion of technology education and creative innovation, stating that proper technology use is critical to achieving long-term development goals. In keeping with the changes in technology, teachers, researchers, and students have to work together for the development of the country and nation with dedication and hard work.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) Prof. Dr. ASM Maqsud Kamal said that Bangladesh’s long-standing friendly relationship with Japan will be strengthened by organizing this hackathon competition. He expressed the hope that the young students participating in this competition will benefit and be inspired in the field of research and innovation.

50 teams of students studying computer science, engineering, and IT in 32 universities across the country participated in this hackathon competition organized to celebrate the centenary of Dhaka University and 50 years of Japan-Bangladesh friendship.

Dhaka University Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) Professor Dr. ASM Maksud Kamal, the founding chairman of the CSE department, Professor Dr. M. Lutfar Rahman, Minister of the Japanese Embassy in Dhaka Machida Tatsuya, Chief Representative of JICA in Bangladesh, Ichiguchi Tamohidi, JETRO’s Country Representative, Yuji Ando, and President of the Japan-Bangladesh Society, Masato Watanabe, spoke as special guests. 

Code Samurai 2022 has driven increasing competition and rapid technological shifts, and emerging market firms are increasingly adopting collaboration as a strategy to strengthen their innovation performance at the global level. On the one hand, collaboration provides an ideal platform for realizing inter-organizational learning and the enhancement of dynamic capabilities.

It also enhances innovation by facilitating the acquisition of a range of resources, increasing the diversity of the knowledge pool, and improving the dynamic capabilities of collaborating partners.