Huawei Seeds for the Future: Digital Talent Summit @ MWC23

At the Digital Talent Summit co-hosted by Huawei and the Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) at MWC Barcelona 2023, Vicky Zhang, Vice President of Corporate Communications for Huawei, gave a speech on the evolution of Huawei’s flagship program Seeds for the Future.

She also covered other Huawei ICT training initiatives, including Huawei ICT Academy (< click for info on becoming a student).

At the summit, Huawei also announced joining the UNESCO Global Alliance for Literacy (GAL).

Below is an adapted version of Vicky Zhang’s speech at the event.

We all know that in the real-world, success is not guaranteed. You have to earn it, investing your body and soul. I vividly remember Huawei’s leadership video interview with Irina Bokova, former director of UNESCO in which she said that education is about giving hope, something I completely agree with.

Getting the right education is often the key to success.

As a major player in the technology sector, Huawei has a responsibility to help develop technology skills in all parts of the world. And we try our best to include as many people as possible, so the benefits of digitalization are better shared.

By the end of 2022, Huawei’s global ICT talent development efforts had benefited as many as 2.2 million people in over 150 countries. This is an amazing milestone that encourages us to do more on a greater scale. It’s concrete proof us fulfilling our promise to invest US$150 million in digital talent development before 2026.

I’m pleased to announce that we’re launching an expanded SEEDS talent framework. It’s a new set of principles that will guide our worldwide talent cultivation programs. SEEDS will now stand for Surpass, Exploration, Employability, Daring to challenge, and Sustainability！

S for ‘Surpass’

With surpass, we aim to foster leadership. We offer a number of programs to help participants cultivate their ability to lead.  

I can give two examples for Surpass. In 2022, Huawei held three editions of its flagship program European Leadership Academy. I was honored to attend the ‘The Women’s Academy for Rural Innovation’ edition in person along with 15 female students. I was amazed by their energy and how our training can help them shine brighter.

And secondly, in Southeast Asia, in the past few years we’ve trained about 180,000 people from Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia through the Huawei ASEAN Academy.

E for ‘Exploration’

Selecting the right career path, adapting to changes, and continuing to grow are all critical for students to thrive. Our well-established programs, like the initial version of Seeds for the Future and ICT Academy, can help thousands of students worldwide. Featuring hands-on training with industry experts, the programs allow students to explore new possible life paths and strengthen their digital skills. While training, many form strong friendships that last long into their careers.

With our initial version of Seeds for the Future, we partnered with over 500 universities, and helped more than 15,000 students in over 130 countries.

By the end of 2022, Huawei had established ICT academies in partnership with more than 2,200 universities. These academies provide courses in fields of AI, telecommunication, and cloud tech.

Now these academies train more than 200,000 students each year.

More info: Huawei ICT Academy – Become a Student

E for ‘Employability’

We provide online education to ICT professionals so that they can keep their skills up to date and remain competitive in the job market years after they finished their studies. The programs enable participants from various technical fields to obtain certifications and experience new technologies. One particular aspect is “Train the Trainers,” which focuses on the knowledge of ICT teachers up to date.

Our Huawei Cloud Developer Institute offers tons of online ICT training courses to the public, enabling entrepreneurs from across the globe to take these courses and upskill.

More importantly, we award Huawei Career Certifications. The Certifications show that the trainees have obtained certain skills. This boosts their employability in the ICT industry.

D for ‘Daring’ to Challenge

We organize and sponsor a wide range of tech competitions throughout the world. Several of the contests involve solving real-world problems. Competing encourages university students and high school students to obtain cutting-edge industry knowledge in a fun way.

Huawei was honored to be International Collegiate Programming Contest’s (ICPC) Diamond sponsor for the fifth year in 2023.

We are also glad that our own Tech Arena competitions are booming in Europe, with an annual attendance of more than 1,000 student contestants in 2022.

S for ‘Sustainability’

Technology plays an increasingly central role in our lives. Yet, too many people don’t use technology, either because they don’t have the skills or don’t have access to devices. We try to bridge this digital divide by offering basic tech training to people of all ages and gender. We have many signature projects that promote sustainability, among which, I would like to introduce you to our digital bus project and Women in Tech initiative.

Huawei’s digital bus in Thailand is bringing modern equipment and education resources to the rural parts of the country, allowing more children to learn the most up-to-date ICT knowledge. I also had the honor of attending one of the bus tour’s last October. In addition, we also have these buses in France to teach the local elderly how to use ICT devices to make their life easier.

Huawei believes the contribution of women is one of the cornerstones of the digital age. To amplify potential contributions, we have offered scholarship programs, training programs, and leadership programs dedicated to cultivate female leadership and boost female participation in the tech industry. In Ghana, Huawei has partnered with the Rebecca Foundation, and local governments, to offer ICT skills training to 100,000 female students and traders. In the past two years, over 70,000 Ghana women benefited from this initiative.

In Ireland, Huawei has been supporting more than 100 top Seeds graduates for their great tech ideas in the past two years. Last year, a winning team designed a tech solution to make train travel for wheelchair users easier. The project reflects Huawei’s philosophy of using tech for the good.

Related: On a Roll: Irish Team Wins Tech4Good Competition with Wheelchair Access Solution

As you can see, we are committed to dedicating our resources to fostering talent. We sincerely hope young people never stop exploring, never stop learning, never stop challenging, and never stop growing!

On our path, we are not alone. We have been forming stronger bonds with UNESCO to improve global ICT talent education. More specifically, this year, we are going to join The Global Alliance for Literacy, a star project run by UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. As you can guess from the name, our main focus will be to provide ICT skills to adults.

Disclaimer: Any views and/or opinions expressed in this post by individual authors or contributors are their personal views and/or opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views and/or opinions of Huawei Technologies.