On August 19-27, the program will bring together 120 outstanding students from 16 countries across the Asia-Pacific region for a nine-day digital boot camp in Thailand to get immersed in technologies and cross-cultural experiences as well as propose technical solutions to address social problems in Tech4Good projects, President of Huawei Asia Pacific Simon Lin noted in a statement received in Jakarta, Friday.
Lin reiterated that the "seeds" represented hope, passion, and future. It is a corporate-level flagship CSR project, with the longest history.
This program has been brought to nearly 140 countries and regions, reaching over 12 thousand students from 500 universities. The "Seeds" have grown to a global "forest," he said.
Digitalization is the driving force for our future. Talent is the key to digital transformation and sustainable growth. We deeply believe that the young generation will grow as the constructors of Asia Pacific while pursuing their tech dreams, Lin stated.
Some 56 of the 120 participants this year are women, thereby making the 2022 trainees the most gender-balanced cohort in the region since the program was initiated in 2008.
The 2022 Asia Pacific Seeds for the Future marks the opening page of the ASEAN Seeds for the Future chapter since Huawei and the ASEAN Foundation signed a MoU on a scaled-up version of regional Seeds for the Future in 2021.
The opening ceremony was attended by both local government officials and representatives of multiple international organizations. Speakers at the event highlighted the important role that multi-party collaboration plays in creating a solid foundation for the region's digital talent ecosystem.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce of Thailand Jurin laksanawisit was pleased to preside over the opening ceremony of Huawei Seeds for the Future in the Asia-Pacific region 2022, hosted in Thailand.
“I would like to thank Huawei for organizing such a wonderful project. At present, the public and private sectors are working together to increase (the number of) ICT personnel in order to keep up with changing trends. Personally, I believe that co-training with leading specialized companies, such as Huawei, will greatly enhance the quality of education and is an excellent step for advancing digital development, with the goal of strengthening the economy to international levels," Laksanawisit remarked.
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Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi stressed that digital talent will be the driving force in the construction of a Digital ASEAN.
“The private sector can play a pioneering role in realizing this vision. In this regard, I commend Huawei Asia Pacific’s initiative: Seeds for the Future Program,” he said.
"This project underscores the long-term commitment of Huawei to collaborate and prepare the ASEAN youth for the changing world of work and the industry’s demands. I also commend the Huawei ASEAN Academy for working with local stakeholders to train 23,465 ICT professionals from Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia. I hope that such efforts could also be extended to the other ASEAN member states,” he affirmed.
Executive Director of the ASEAN Foundation Yang Mee Eng said that growth of the ASEAN Digital Economy was entirely dependent on the capability of the region’s young people to participate in it.
To nurture a generation of digitally savvy and innovative problem solvers, it is pivotal for stakeholders of ASEAN to create a robust learning ecosystem that allows our youth to advance their digital skills, Mee Eng emphasized.
She believes that this event is yet another success of the ASEAN Foundation–Huawei partnership that is committed to creating a learning ecosystem focused on talent development that will help address the shortage of digital skills in the region.
Meanwhile, Huawei Indonesia partakes in the program by sending off 10 selected from various collaboration programs, such as the Huawei ICT Competition, Huawei Digital Talent Scholarship Program with the Ministry of Communication and Information, Huawei Study Internship program (Certified Independent Study Internship, MSIB) and also the Huawei AI Digital Intelligence in collaboration with Universitas Gadjah Mada.
"Our participation in the program is a testament of our long-term commitment to the development of digital talents in Indonesia. Inspired by Huawei I DO pledges, we are committed to preparing at least 100 thousand digital talents by 2025. To date, we have prepared 64 thousand talents, or more than half of our target,” CEO of Huawei Indonesia Jacky Chen said.
The Indonesian students participating in Seeds for the Future 2022 are Sigit Bayu Cahyanto, a student of Internet Engineering Technology at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta; Zulfan Jauhar Maknuny, a student of Electrical Engineering at Universitas Padjadjaran in Bandung; Faishal Zharfan, a Telecommunication Engineering student at Institut Teknologi Bandung; Zahra Salsabila Hernanda, a Technical Telecommunications student at the Politeknik Elektronika Negeri Surabaya; Jesika Laprina Manurung, Computer Science student at Institut Teknologi Del, North Sumatra; Anak Agung Krisna Ananda Kusuma, a student of Electrical Engineering at the Universitas Indonesia; Joseph Kristiano, an Informatics Engineering student at Universitas Surabaya; Fauzi Frahma Taliningsih, a Telecommunication Engineering student at Telkom University in Bandung; TTalcha Krusbeek Orrilia Audre Agatha Putri Setyabudi, a student of Electrical Engineering at Universitas Brawijaya in Malang; and Aisha Salsabilla, a student of the Electronics and Instrumentation study program at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta.
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Reporter: Azis Kurmala
Editor: Suharto
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