Mohamed El Raffie’s dual passions for science and social change prompted him to establish CORD in 2007 to engage Egyptian youth with the burgeoning world of science and technological development. CORD’s flagship program is a series of robot building competitions which challenge students of all ages, from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds to build robots using affordable, widely available materials. Mohamed believes that robots represent the height of scientific sophistication and complexity, and that making this field accessible to youth can help develop their professional ambitions. The competition also nurtures the creativity, resourcefulness and teamwork required to create a cadre of inquiring minds able to push the boundaries of science in Egypt.
In tandem with the competitions, CORD works more broadly to improve the field of scientific education by producing edutainment creative commercial products and developing practical learning curricula and workshops based on the experiences and feedback from the robot competitions.