Team Guyana Robotics 2026 received encouragement and renewed support on Monday, September 28, as senior representatives of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and MODEC visited STEMGuyana and met with the young engineers preparing to represent Guyana at the FIRST Global Challenge in South Korea.
The international robotics competition will be held from October 7–10, 2026, at Songdo Convensia in Incheon, South Korea, bringing together student teams from around the world to compete in robotics and engineering challenges.
IDB Country Manager for Guyana Lorena Solórzano-Salazar and IDB Chief of Operations Ivan Gaviria visited the STEMGuyana Clubhouse and spent time with Team Guyana Robotics 2026.
The students participated in a hands-on session with the IDB representatives, giving them an opportunity to demonstrate their work and discuss their preparations for the competition.
STEMGuyana expressed appreciation for the IDB’s encouragement and support as the young team prepares to carry Guyana’s flag onto the international robotics stage.
Later, MODEC President and Chief Executive Officer Hirohiko Miyata and members of the MODEC team also visited the Clubhouse, meeting Team Guyana Robotics 2026, STEM Club students, young engineers and staff.
The visit highlighted a partnership between MODEC and STEMGuyana that began in 2024 and has supported opportunities for young Guyanese in science and technology.
According to STEMGuyana, MODEC has supported Guyana’s National Robotics Team, including its participation in the FIRST Global Challenge in Athens, while also helping the organisation’s Learning Pods programme expand in Regions Two and Eight.
Building More Than Robots
STEMGuyana, founded in 2016, has spent the past decade working to expand access to science, technology, engineering and mathematics education among Guyanese children.
Its Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Karen Abrams, has built the organisation around the belief that Guyana’s young people should have the opportunity to develop practical skills in technology, engineering and problem-solving regardless of where they live.
STEMGuyana says it has reached more than 20,000 students across all 10 regions, while developing programmes and partnerships designed to expand STEM education nationwide.
Abrams has emphasised that the goal is not simply to produce programmers and engineers, but to help young people become creators and problem-solvers rather than merely consumers of technology.
That vision takes on added significance as Guyana’s economy expands and demand increases for skills in engineering, technology, energy, automation and other specialised fields.
From Guyana to the World
The journey to Incheon is about more than a robotics competition. For the students, it represents an opportunity to test their ideas against teams from around the world, strengthen their engineering and teamwork skills and demonstrate what young Guyanese can accomplish.
It also provides an opportunity for Guyana to showcase a different dimension of its young population—one driven not only by the country’s natural-resource wealth, but by innovation, creativity and technical skill.
The support from the IDB and MODEC gives the team additional encouragement as it enters the final stages of preparation.
In just days, Team Guyana Robotics 2026 will travel to South Korea to compete alongside young innovators from across the globe. Their destination is Incheon. Their larger journey is the building of a generation of Guyanese capable of designing, creating and solving the problems that will shape the country’s future.
