Huawei Seeds for the Future 2021 readies digital talents to anticipate future of work

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The pandemic has but accelerated digitalization in all facets of life – both in Indonesia and the world. The need for capable, competent digital talents in large numbers becomes a pressing necessity to be able to answer present and future industry needs.

To respond to that, Huawei Indonesia has once again held the Seeds for the Future 2021 program for Indonesia’s foremost talents, selected from a number of universities. Held online starting November 8-15, this year’s program emphasizes preparing digital talents to anticipate the future of work, especially post-pandemic, and open up opportunities for participants to network internationally.

In his opening address, Dr. Hary Budiarto, M.Kom, Head of Research and Human Resources Development, Kominfo, reaffirmed, “Indonesia needs 600 thousand digital talents per year, making it a total of 9 million talents by 2030. Represented by Kominfo, the government is working together with all stakeholders to amplify the digital talent development programs under the Digital Talent Scholarship umbrella, synergizing different ideas and programs that aim towards digital talent creation in Indonesia. To that end, we appreciate Huawei’s cooperation with government and universities to create positive impacts and foster innovation as well collaboration in order to answer global challenges. We hope the Seeds for the Future program opens up the way for Indonesian digital talents to continue learning digital skills as we welcome the era of digital transformation and Industry 4.0.”

Yenty Joman, Director of Government Affairs, Huawei Indonesia, said, “The future of work will be heavily reliant on advanced technologies such as AI, 5G, cloud computing, and IoT. The relentless march of digitalization, driven even faster by the pandemic, necessitates widescale upskilling through multiple helix collaborations between stakeholders in order to answer the demand for work-ready, future-proof digital talents. Because of this, Seeds for the Future 2021 will try to introduce the future of work, especially in Indonesia, in addition to expanding participants’ knowledge of state-of-the-art technologies, solutions, and innovations. Through this program, participants will also be connected to over 9 thousand alumni from 500 universities in 130 countries.”

Yenty added that with its 21 years of presence in Indonesia charting a course for growing together with its people, Huawei is eager to show its continued commitment as the nation’s economy is poised to stage its most robust post-recession recovery. The ICT talent development program, in particular, will again be a central to this year’s Seeds for the Future 2021 which stands above one Huawei Indonesia’s pillar of ‘I Do Contribute’ which aims at cultivating 100,000 future ICT talents in 5 years and is foundational for Indonesian digital ecosystem.

The Seeds for the Future program was a continuation of the Huawei National ICT Competition of which 1,164 students from 24 leading universities in Indonesia have enrolled in this year’s program.

Since it was launched in 2008, more than 100 Indonesian delegations have taken part in previous programs, including on-site tours to the Huawei Headquarters in China, where they would learn directly from global practitioners and academics together with other participants from around the globe.

During the 8 days in which the program is held, participants will be facilitated to share ideas and collaborate in working groups to accomplish the Tech4Good project. It challenges them to use technology to answer various urgent social and environmental issues. At the same time, the project encourages participants to hone their social entrepreneurship and problem-solving skills by coming up with concrete project ideas for technology solutions with social impact and value.

The Seeds for the Future program is also part of Huawei’s global initiative to prepare talents in order to consolidate the digital ecosystem. Since mid-year, the initiative was taken a step further with the launch of Seeds for the Future 2.0, through which Huawei will invest USD150 million in talent development within the next five years, reaching 3 million digital talents globally in as we build the foundation to an inclusive digital economy, where digital literacy and skills are a basic human right as defined by the United Nations.