Today, Huawei Technologies (Thailand) Co., Ltd. held the closing awards ceremony of its 2022-2023 ICT Competition. In addition to celebrating the conclusion of the competition and the winning teams, the event also marked the first-ever ICT Academy Instructor Conference, which recognizes and honors Huawei’s university partners who actively participate in nurturing talents through various initiatives. The ceremony was livestreamed and attended by Huawei executives and the winning Thai teams, as well as representatives from the National Innovation Agency (NIA) and Huawei’s university partners.
This year’s ICT competition awards were divided into two tracks, the Cloud track and the Network track, with a total of 18 students, divided into 6 teams, winning awards. After competing in multiple rounds and engaging in a range of learning activities, teams from the School of Science and the School of IT at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) emerged as the winners and first runners-up of the Cloud track, respectively, with a team from the Faculty of Engineering at Kasetsart University (KU) placing as second runners-up. In the Network track, teams from KMITL’s School of IT and School of Engineering won first place and second runners-up, respectively, while a team from KU’s Faculty of Enginering took first runners-up. The experience also boosted all the participants’ technical skills.
During the ceremony, Huawei announced that the winning teams would receive scholarships worth a total of one million THB and exclusive internship opportunities to help them explore their personal and professional development in the digital era. Additionally, Huawei will continue to support ICT academy instructors across various universities in guiding students towards successful careers while keeping them informed about future events, trainings, and competitions.
Mr. Jay Chen, Chairman of the Board, Huawei Thailand, remarked during the ceremony: “In Thailand, there is an old saying that ‘if you plant, you harvest’. This saying perfectly aligns with Huawei’s talent initiatives. I firmly believe that through our joint efforts, we can help to address current gaps and raise awareness about the importance of linking technologies with talent development and education.”
Mr. Pariwat Wongsamran, Director of Entrepreneur and Enterprise, Director of Startup Thailand at the National Innovation Agency (NIA), also spoke at the event: “Rapid digital transformation has resulted in a skilled worker shortage in Thailand. We at NIA must focus on developing the necessary digital skills and knowledge for the next generation, so that they are equipped to benefit from and to the economic and social development of the country. Huawei is the key private sector partner supporting the creation of a skilled ICT workforce in Thailand and we are thrilled to work closely with them in cultivating more digital talents.”
In 2022, Huawei Thailand collaborated with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) and the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) to create a white paper on Thailand’s National Digital Talent Development. This paper identified 11 key challenges and 5 policy recommendations. According to the whitepaper, the digital economy will increase its contributions to 30% of Thailand’s GDP within 2027. In response, Huawei further enhanced the scope of this year’s competition and increased the scholarships received by the winning team in line with its commitments to develop ICT talents in Thailand.
Over the past 4 years, Huawei has successfully trained over 70,000 digital talents in Thailand, an achievement that earned them the Prime Minister Award for the “Best Contributor in Human Capital Development” in June of this year. As part of their 2023 digital talent strategy, Huawei identified three key talent development pillars: Leadership, Knowledge and Skills, and Profession and Vocation. During the award ceremony, Huawei and its partners announced several ongoing and future talent cultivation projects for Thailand that will leverage these robust new strategies in upskilling Thailand’s future digital workforce.
The ICT Competition first began in 2015 as a collaborative effort under Huawei ICT Academy, a school-enterprise project established by Huawei aimed at enriching the ICT talent pool with high-quality professionals, conducted in partnership with 37 leading Thai higher education institutions. At the Instructor Conference, Huawei emphasized the need to explore more models for collaboration between government, industry, and academia in order to align digital skills training with industry needs and to foster an effective talent pipeline. Huawei concluded the event by extending an invitation to even more universities to join them in building a robust talent ecosystem that meets the demands of the digital era in Thailand.
Source: Carl Byoir & Associates
