Fellows Delve into Tech Solutions in Huawei Seeds for the Future 2021

Fellows of Huawei Indonesia's CSR Program Seeds for the Future 2021 have wrapped up the 8-day online course from Nov. 8-15, 2021, with Tech4Good project presentations exploring capabilities of next-generation technologies in helping solve ample problems in the society, from forest fires to personal safety protection.

One of the projects, dubbed “PatrolCopter,” floated an idea of using a remote sensing and AI-powered drone. The drone will carry out an aerial patrol task to conduct 3D mapping scans over fires-prone tropical forests in Indonesia in order to detect smoldering hotspots and trigger an alert system to forest ranger personnel on the ground to immediately take action to put out the fires before it turns into wildfires. The group contends that the solution is key to effectively clamp down on recurring forest fires in Indonesia that destroy ecosystem, impact people’s and cities’ in surrounding areas, ranging from flight cancellations to health problems.   

Those Tech4Good projects are part of the curriculum in the program to encourage the fellows not only learning about new technologies but more importantly use them to find innovative solutions to address plethora of pain points in the society. At the same time, the project also encourage participants to hone their social entrepreneurship by coming up with concrete project concepts for tech solutions with social impact and value. The projects will be presented before Huawei‘s panel of expert judges who will select the best to proceed in the global Tech4Good competition by the end of this year. 

Alland Dharmawan, Ma Chung University, Malang, said in his testimony, “When I was a kid, I was curious how the future would look like. I think we are already living in the future thanks to tech company Huawei. This Seeds for the Future program allows me to dive deeper. In the last one week, I’ve learnt so much about artificial intelligence, 5G and other innovations that Huawei is developing. The Internet has realized the dreams of millions of people in the world, and I can’t wait the numerous windows of opportunity to open in less than no time.

Meanwhile, Amira Salsabila from UPN Veteran, Yogyakarta, said, “Through this program, I got opportunity to broaden my knowledge and learnt various subjects, such as IT trends, leadership and Chinese culture from the experts. I hope this program can embrace digital talents all around the world, especially in Indonesia, give outlook to the new strength of IT and also technology growth in Huawei. Thank you everyone, thank you Huawei.”

Sharing a similar view, Yoshua Kaleb Purwanto from Petra Christian University, said, “To me, this is a truly wonderful program that helps future young talents to grow up in genuine action towards the public, like working together as a team in extraordinary project like Tech4Good. I hope this program can be continued and instill young fighters to contribute more to serve the community.

In his insight sharing session during the closing ceremony of the program, Deputy Chief of Mission, the Indonesian Embassy for the People’s Republic of China and Mongolia, Dino R. Kusnadi, commends. “Indonesia requires digital transformation which is supported by digital technology-capable human resources to make a great leap forward. Our digital talents are the key pillar to support Indonesia's digital ecosystem. Therefore, this Huawei Seeds for the Future program is not only timely but also indispensable. On behalf of the Indonesian Ambassador in China, I would like to express my appreciation that in the midst of this pandemic situation, the program can still be carried out online. This is a testament of Huawei Indonesia’s commitment and contribution to cultivate digital talents in Indonesia to achieve the grand vision of Indonesia 2045.”

According to Huawei Indonesia’s Human Resources Director, Dani K. Ristandi, “The students will become frontrunners in the future digital ecosystem in Indonesia. Equipping them with next-gen knowledge and practical knowhow is of paramount importance.  The wave of digitalization in the post-pandemic scenario would be determined by the solutions provided by advanced technologies such as AI, 5G, cloud computing, and IoT. 

"Going forward, we need to act together by launching wide-scale upskilling that involve multiple helix collaborations between stakeholders in the ecosystem, including the government, industry, academics and media, to respond to relentless march of digitalization driven by the pandemic in order to answer the demand for digital talents who not only have knowledge in new technologies but also have soft skills to apply them for a greater good.” Dani asserted.

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.  This year’s Seeds for the Future 2021 is also part of Huawei Indonesia’s ICT talent development program through its ‘I Do Contribute’ commitment which aims at cultivating 100,000 future ICT talents in 5 years.

Aside from the Tech4Good project, 33 Indonesian Seeds fellows also attend some learning sessions with other fellows from Ethiopia, Italy, Greece, Bangladesh, Tunis, Cape Verde, Mozambique, and Libya.

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. 

More than 133 Indonesian students have taken part in the program since its launch in 2008 in Thailand.

The Seeds for the Future program is also part of Huawei’s global initiative to prepare talents in order to consolidate the digital ecosystem. Currently, the Seeds for the Future Program has benefitted more than 9,000 students from 500 universities in 130 countries. 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 $150 million in talent development within the next five years, reaching 3 million digital talents globally.  

Nadine Haninta from 10 Nopember Institute Technology of Surabaya, exclaimed, “This program is amazing and open my eyes about the outside world. Hope this program can be held directly as soon as possible. I believe this program will encourage young all across the world to make change and create a better future.”

Meanwhile, Sigit Bayu Cahyanto from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, said “This program contributes to advance global ICT industry. I learnt many things such as the real process of telecommunication technology and what technology to be developed in the future. I hope program can contribute to help prepare future professionals with integrity, innovative, highly-competitive ICT human resource.”

Fatih Rian from 10 Nopember Institute of Technology added, “For me, this program is so fun while also informative. I learn many new things, such as story about Huawei, Cloud computing, 5G uses and trends, AI. The program has many great lecturers who gave knowledge about ICT. Hope more participants could join this program in the future.”