LG Electronics hosts IT competition for youths with disabilities

LG Electronics announced Tuesday it will host the 2026 Global IT Challenge for Youth with Disabilities (GITC) Korea competition.

The event is co-hosted by LG Group and the Ministry of Health and Welfare and organized by LG Electronics and the Korea Disabled People's Rehabilitation Association. It runs for two days starting Wednesday at the Ramada by Wyndham Daejeon in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon.

GITC has been held since 2011 to improve IT skills among youths with disabilities worldwide and support their entry into the workforce. Over the past 15 years, more than 5,000 young participants from 41 countries have taken part. Last year's competition was held in Korea as the only disability-related side event at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

This year's Korea competition will bring together 60 youths with disabilities from 17 regions across the country, competing in four events: e-Combination, covering AI-based information retrieval and document tasks; e-Creative, which evaluates self-driving car programming skills; e-Content, which assesses video production ability; and e-Interactive, in which participants use AI to build interactive games that respond to movement, voice and facial expressions. The four finalists selected will compete at the world competition in Da Nang, Vietnam, over three days starting Oct. 27.

Ahead of the Korea competition, LG Electronics worked with the Korea Disabled People's Rehabilitation Association to provide all participants with online and in-person preparatory training covering generative AI, video production and block coding. Those advancing to the world competition will receive additional intensive training in September.

GITC has served as a springboard for youths with disabilities entering the workforce. Shin Ki-hun, who won the 2011 Vietnam competition, went on to pursue a career in computer engineering and is currently a doctoral candidate at Pusan National University's Embedded Systems Laboratory, where he researches AI implementation in smart devices.

"Through GITC, we will actively support young people with dreams and talent in IT to grow into future leaders equipped with AI capabilities, transcending their disabilities," said Yoon Dae-sik, executive vice president for external affairs at LG Electronics.