90 participants from around the world will take on four design challenges during Ithra Design Week, with the winning projects moving from ideas into development and implementation

Dhahran | BETH

The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) has opened registration for the eighth edition of “Ithra Design Challenges,” taking place as part of Ithra Design Week from November 16 to 21, 2026, at the Center’s headquarters in Dhahran.

The program will feature a six-day design hackathon bringing together 90 participants from around the world to develop practical and creative solutions to real-world challenges across four tracks: Urban Space Design, Product Design, Visual Communication Design, and Global Impact.

This year’s edition is built around one central question:

What is the next familiar?

The question invites participants to reconsider and develop existing solutions rather than simply replace them, responding to the constant evolution of society and technology.

Each challenge will bring together between 20 and 30 participants, working individually or in teams, through an intensive program of workshops and seminars. One winning project will be selected from each track.

The four winning projects will then move into a subsequent development phase aimed at turning them into standalone ventures, while all winning projects will be showcased during Ithra Design Week 2027.

BETH Comment

The value of the challenge lies not simply in producing a compelling idea, but in testing whether that idea can become reality.

The question Ithra is asking this year is a smart one:

The future does not always begin with inventing something new; sometimes, it begins by rethinking what we have grown accustomed to.