29 Sep 190+ Nations Unite in Panama for Youth Robotics Tournament, International Celebration at 2025 FIRST Global Challenge
Panama City, Panama – FIRST Global, the nonprofit dedicated to inspiring science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education worldwide, is excited to alert the world that the 2025 FIRST Global Challenge is coming to Panama City, Panama from October 29 – November 1, 2025 at the Panama Convention Center. This “Olympics-style” event will bring together high school students from over 190 nations for an international robotics competition and cultural festival centered on the theme Eco Equilibrium, highlighting biodiversity in one of Earth’s most biodiverse countries.
“We are thrilled to bring the FIRST Global Challenge to Panama, a nation known both as a crossroads of the world and a hub of biodiversity,” said Dean Kamen, FIRST Global founder and famed inventor with over 1,000 patents to his name. “Our mission is bigger than robotics. We’re working to ensure all of Earth’s two billion kids have the STEM education they need to change the world. In our sport, the next generation gains access to hands-on STEM experience and learns to collaborate across borders, proving that cooperation and innovation can solve even the most pressing challenges.”
Eco Equilibrium Robotics Challenge
In the Eco Equilibrium game, student teams navigate their robots through a richly diverse, simulated world to carefully restore habitats, maintain ecological balance, and protect vulnerable species, emphasizing the delicate systems that support our planet and the critical role innovation plays in their survival. In addition, teams will take part in the Eco Equilibrium – New Technology Experience (NTE), developing projects that use emerging technologies to protect biodiversity and promote sustainable solutions within their own communities.
Why It Matters: More Than Robotics
Since its founding, FIRST Global has provided young people around the world with the opportunity to learn engineering, coding, and teamwork on a global stage. The impact reaches far beyond technical skills: students gain confidence, forge friendships across cultures, and return home inspired to spark change in their schools and communities. For many nations, the FIRST Global Challenge is the only international sports-like competition where their youth compete shoulder-to-shoulder with peers from nearly every country on Earth, creating a sense of pride, belonging, and possibility.
The collision of cultures at the FIRST Global Challenge has sparked great change throughout its history. After 20 years of war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, a photo of the two teams working together at the 2018 Challenge in Mexico City went viral and was shown on Ethiopian state TV. This led to a groundswell of support for peace that culminated just five months later in a formal truce between the two nations. During the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge, the “Afghan Dreamers,” an all-girls robotics team from Afghanistan, became a global symbol for women’s education after undertaking three harrowing journeys through Taliban-held territory to attend the event. The movie inspired by their story, Rule Breakers, was released in March of this year.
Enthusiastic Support from Panama and Partners
Gloria De León Zubieta, Panama’s Minister of Tourism who has been a major booster for the event along with PROMTUR Panamá, added, “Hosting the FIRST Global Challenge 2025 is an honor for Panama and a reflection of our role as a true meeting point for the world, not only as a hub for innovation and education, but also as a destination where culture, biodiversity, and tourism converge. This event offers thousands of visitors the opportunity to experience our country’s unique blend of natural wonders, warm hospitality, and vibrant heritage, reinforcing Panama as a global meeting point for meaningful exchanges. We invite all the students and visitors from over 190 nations to experience not only the competition, but also the spirit of Panama, a country that will stay in your heart long after the challenge ends.”
The event is made possible through the generous support of FIRST Global’s Title Sponsor, Lam Research, a global supplier of innovative wafer fabrication equipment and services that drives semiconductor breakthroughs to define the next generation.
“At Lam, we believe the path to solving tomorrow’s challenges starts by fostering curiosity, creativity and collaboration among students today,” said Steve Fine, chief communications officer and head of social impact programs at Lam Research. “We are proud to partner with FIRST Global to inspire the next generation of innovators across the world.”
About FIRST Global
FIRST Global’s mission is to ensure all of Earth’s two billion kids have the STEM education they need to change the world. Together with its sister organization, FIRST, FIRST Global runs the largest robotics league in the world with teams in over 190 countries. By turning robotics into the fastest growing international sport, FIRST Global is cultivating a generation of young people ready to work together to solve humanity’s greatest challenges.
For more information about the 2025 FIRST Global Challenge and how to get involved, please visit https://first.global/fgc/.
Contact:
press@first.global
