مسابقة المهارات الثقافية: ابتكار في تطبيقات معلومات الأعمال لصناعة أثر وطني قابل للقياس

National Agency for Partnerships and Capacity Development, Saudi Ministry of Culture

The launch of the Cultural Skills Competition in 2025 marked a qualitative shift in the management of government events, not only in terms of scale and participation, but also through the use of business intelligence applications at all stages of planning, implementation, and evaluation. The competition is no longer a traditional competitive event; rather, it has become a data-driven digital platform that enables real-time decision-making, precise impact measurement, and highly efficient operational management.

The competition relied on an integrated digital system to manage the entire participation lifecycle, from registration through the preliminary judging stages to the training camp and closing ceremony. This system enabled the collection and analysis of data from more than one million student entries nationwide, across 16 cultural fields, providing an unprecedented national database on the distribution of talents, interests, and performance levels.

During the registration phase, the smart platform enabled students to choose the appropriate tracks and improved the quality of submissions by presenting clear criteria for each field.

Registration data was linked to analytical dashboards that allowed teams to track participation rates by region, age group, and major, enabling them to proactively direct communication and operational efforts.

During the judging phase, a digital evaluation platform based on standardized criteria was used, allowing for the fair distribution of entries among judges and the automatic calculation of results according to precise weightings. Interactive dashboards provided real-time insights into evaluation percentages, average scores, and performance gaps across regions, thereby enhancing transparency and improving the quality of the selection process.

Innovation reached its peak during the training camp phase, where data on qualified candidates was analyzed to design specialized training programs tailored to the needs of each track.

Participants' progress was measured daily using digital assessment tools, and individual performance reports were prepared to support their professional development. Daily satisfaction surveys were also conducted and analyzed immediately to inform continuous improvement decisions.

For the closing ceremony, crowd management systems and attendance tracking platforms were deployed, and the final results were linked to central data dashboards, enabling the management of a large-scale national event with high operational efficiency. The final analyses also made it possible to determine the winners based on precise criteria and to document their journey from registration to the award ceremony.

The true impact of business intelligence applications was evident in transforming the competition into a strategic tool for cultural decision-making. It provided a national database on student talent that can be utilized to shape cultural policies, design future programs, and connect winners with targeted educational and professional opportunities. Thus, the data generated by the competition has become a strategic asset that supports long-term planning.

The digital system also contributed to strengthening governance and transparency by documenting all processes, enabling data retrieval, and ensuring fairness in evaluation. It has led to reduced operational costs, streamlined procedures, and an improved user experience for students, judges, and work teams alike.

The 2025 edition of the Cultural Skills Competition presents an advanced model of innovation in business intelligence applications within government events. It has transitioned from traditional management reliant on manual processes to a smart digital system based on data and real-time analysis. This initiative demonstrates how technology and institutional analysis can transform a national event into a sustainable strategic platform for talent development and cultural decision-making.