The winners of Huawei’s first global Tech4Good competition were announced yesterday, with team Thailand “Are u OK?” taking the gold for their solution that helps patients in Thailand receive faster emergency treatment. They achieved this through advanced route planning and real-time communications enabled by 5G, AI, and cloud technologies, shortening the time patients spend traveling to medical centers and improving their chance of survival.
The Tech4Good Competition is a new project started in 2021 under Huawei’s flagship Seeds for the Future digital skill training program. Tech4Good asks students to identify a social issue and propose a technical solution for it based on the ICT skills they learn throughout the program. This competition is also designed to cultivate leadership and team work through practice and group competition.
Seeds for the Future was launched in 2008 to develop skilled, local ICT talent and bridge communication gaps between countries and cultures. In it, young people from around the world study advanced ICT technologies and build real-world expertise and skills. The 2021 program had more than 3,500 participants from over 117 countries, bringing the total number of participants over the past 13 years to 120,000 students representing 139 countries and regions.
During her opening remarks at the award ceremony, Catherine Chen, Huawei’s Senior Vice President, Director of the Board, explained how this year’s program was a particular success, saying “The participation of Seeds for the Future program was record-breaking in 2021. Your feedback and love for this program have been truly heartwarming. Your generation’s passion and drive to learn never fail to impress me.”
The second and third place prizes were awarded to Team Vietnam VNO1 and Team Libya Binary Brains respectively, and Team Brazil Digital4People won the Audience Award with over 40,000 votes according to a popular online vote. There were a total of 79 submissions for the competition and more than 110,000 people participated in the final voting.
The winners will have private consultation or coaching sessions with Huawei executives and managers, and be shortlisted to speak at international forums and other events. The first place winners will also get the chance to meet with an investor to pitch their idea.
Chen also spoke at length during the event about the program’s aim to foster unity and cooperation in a contentious international environment along with other social goals. She said, “In this year’s Seeds for the Future program, more than half of the participants from over 20 countries are women. Tech has no gender. A diverse, inclusive, and innovative world needs the perspectives and strength of women. We look forward to seeing more women participate in science and technology in the coming years.”
