Focus on education: Why coding is the most important job skill of the future

Three years ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook made the argument that teaching kids to code is just as important as teaching them any other language.

And the younger they start learning it, the better, Cook said.

That argument is slowly making its way to the Middle East, with countries like Saudi Arabia placing a major focus on fostering a culture of coding among the youth when the Saudi Cyber Security and Programming Federation signed an agreement with Google to set up Innovation Hub Centers.

Their goal? To seek, develop and train local talent in the production of prototypes, mobile application design and artificial intelligence.