The event was delegated by the Former Secretary to Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure and Foreign Employment Ministry Chulananda Perera and officials from the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Colombo.
Through the Program, HUAWEI will be sponsoring 10 University students from Sri Lanka who will be traveling to China from November 5th to 16th 2018.
Seeds for the Future is Huawei's global CSR flagship program executed with the objective of nurturing Sri Lankan ICT youth talent to bring benefits to the Sri Lankan ICT industry.
The program has been successfully executed for 2 consecutive years. Huawei Sri Lanka Representative Office fully sponsored 10 Sri Lankan University students to China for an ICT learning and culture trip in 2016 and 2017.
Chulananda Perera, Former Secretary to the Minister of Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure commented on the event “Information and communications technologies (ICT) have become crucial growth engines for many economies.
ICT industry has greatly changed business models and customer requirements.
As a result, across the ICT ecosystem there is an urgent need for large numbers of technical talent who can address the challenges posed by this transformation.
We are delighted that as an ICT leader in Sri Lanka, Huawei is committed to promoting ICT industry development in Sri Lanka, and aims to drive long-term economic, social, and environmental sustainability in our country”.
Through the program, HUAWEI collaborate with the local government, higher education institutes, and other organizations to select top university students and young government officials working in ICT-related departments; offer them valuable opportunities to study and gain work experience and help them learn more about Chinese culture and gain cross-cultural work experience in a global business environment.
The students will also receive the opportunity to study cutting-edge technologies such as 5G, LTE, and cloud computing, and offer them opportunities for hands-on practice in Huawei's most advanced labs.
What makes this program unique is that it also offers first-hand learning opportunities through interaction with Huawei staff and visits to Huawei laboratories, where program participants can engage in hands-on practice and witness live demonstrations of the latest ICT technology.
Shunli Wang CEO HUAWEI Technologies Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. commented “Huawei believes that access to education is vital to create opportunities that support fair and sustainable development in the countries in which the company operates.
Therefore, our global CSR initiatives largely focus on education and knowledge transfer.
Initiated by Huawei in 2008, Seeds for the Future program seeks to develop local ICT talent, enhance knowledge transfer, promote a greater understanding of and interest in the telecommunications sector, and improve and encourage the development and active participation of the future talent in a digital community”.
“As Huawei we are ready and keen to contribute and invest more to the Digital Transformation of Sri Lanka, therefore we would continue with ‘Huawei Seeds for the Future’ as an opportunity for the Sri Lankan younger generation to improve their ICT talent and skills” Shunli Wang CEO HUAWEI Technologies Lanka said.
Shunli Wang further suggested that it is important that both the government sector and private sector in Sri Lanka come forward in increasing ICT sector investment that enhance the ICT talent of youth that in turn directly contribute to the economic growth of the country and make Sri Lanka competitive among the other economies.
He further added “Every year, Huawei invites 1,000 students, 10 per country, to study at our Headquarters in Shenzhen.
We discuss future trends and provide them with a life changing opportunity to harness their experience.
The name of the program represents our desire to nurture promising young professionals in every country where Huawei operates.
No one can say for sure what the future of information technology will be like with the rapid change.
We bring together young people of different races and languages and make them contribute to global progress.
Huawei is committed towards shaping the future talent in ICT industry.”
The program is in line with the digitization strategies of many countries.
It helps cultivate and pool together ICT professionals that are crucial to industry development, thus boosting ICT industry growth, driving the development of different sectors, and contributing to lower unemployment rates over the long term.
The program helps local universities improve their teaching and scientific research capabilities in the ICT sector and provides students with high-quality courses and opportunities for hands-on practice.
Students also receive the opportunity to enhance their abilities to adapt to the ICT industry as they learn more about state-of-the-art technologies and skills, as well as the innovation needs of the local market.
By acquiring skills, students are able to gain confidence, which helps them to excel in their careers and in multi-cultural business environments.
As of December 31, 2016, the program had been implemented in 96 countries worldwide.
Over 2,648 trainees visited China on study trips up to now. In 2017, we plan to arrange for about 41 groups of students from over 40 countries to visit China (statistics up to early February, 2017).
The Seeds for the Future program can be scaled according to local conditions and replicated in multiple countries and regions.
So far, Huawei has cooperated with over 280 universities, benefiting more than 20,000 students.
Huawei plans to roll out this program globally in the long term and strengthen local partnerships.
In addition to the Seeds for the Future program, Huawei has engaged in the many activities to support education and knowledge transfer such as Providing top students with scholarships and internships at Huawei's local representative offices, Establishing local training centers or providing ICT training programs to help nurture local professionals, Donating ICT equipment or laboratories to local universities and Providing technical courses, and Teacher training courses, qualification assessments, and career certifications through the Huawei Authorized Network Academy.