Huawei celebrates 10 years of its Seeds for the Future digital talent programme in Latin America and the Caribbean

• Dominican students can sign up for the 2023 edition until 31 August by registering at https://form.jotform.com/231934836347060.

[August 2023] – Huawei, the world’s leading digital infrastructure provider, has awarded scholarships to a total of 2,000 students from Latin America and the Caribbean over the last ten years to take part in its immersive education programme and be exposed to the latest trends in digital technology, the company announced on Thursday as it celebrated the tenth anniversary of its flagship digital talent programme in the region.

The Seeds for the Future programme first came to the region in 2014, starting in Colombia, and then expanded to cover some 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“As with other things we do, we decided to create a real talent programme and sustain it over the long term. We are happy to have reached the ten-year milestone in this region,” said César Funes, vice president of public affairs at Huawei Latin America and the Caribbean.

“When we look back, we can say that we have kept it going, even during the pandemic years. We have also constantly updated the programme, and it is now mainly Seeds for the Future 2.0 in many of the countries in the region where we have launched it,” he added.

The winning students receive a scholarship that funds a trip to China, where they spend two weeks on an immersive educational programme at Huawei, receive guidance from engineers working at the company and are exposed to the latest trends in digital technology. They also visit cities and companies.

In recent years, Seeds for the Future alumni have also been challenged to produce innovative projects aimed at solving real problems with digital technologies.

“I think initiatives like this are extremely valuable, not only for showcasing young talent but also for showing us what we can do in the long term,” said Leticia de Oliveira Silva, a delivery project management specialist at Huawei Brazil, who took part in the Seeds for the Future programme.

Leticia joined the company five years ago and is now also involved in women-in-tech initiatives. She was the only one in her family to get a job at one of the best technology companies in the world.

“No woman close to me worked in technology. That reality was very far away,” says the 26-year-old project manager, daughter of a business administrator. Her story was featured in a documentary earlier this year. “The mirror is what we need,” a proud Leticia says in the documentary.

A regional event organised by Huawei to celebrate the programme’s 10-year milestone brought together industry leaders, academics and youth representatives for a panel discussion on the state of regional digital talent and the impact of the arrival of artificial intelligence.

Huawei released a regional digital talent report during the event, which points to an estimated need for 2.5 million more digital professionals in the region over the next five years, according to a study by the international consultancy IDC.

The report also highlighted gaps in digital skills among the pool of digital talent, reflecting a mismatch between the skills needed and what is available in the labour market.

The document also highlights three golden rules for training: ongoing training, professional development and the use of business partners’ latest technologies.

“This is where we, as a global digital infrastructure company, can contribute, together with partners and policymakers,” said Shau Wa Yu Tan, public relations manager at Huawei, who is involved in delivering talent initiatives in the region.

At the same time, Huawei runs the ICT Academy, with more than 400 partner universities that receive help to train and certify students in digital technologies and skills, and the global ICT Competition, with student teams often reaching the global final. It also works on initiatives aimed at closing gender and geographical gaps.

Aware of the similar challenges faced by other talented young women pursuing a career in technology, Huawei’s Women In Tech promotes the inclusion of more women in the ICT field, where they currently make up a low 16-30% of the workforce in 45% of companies, according to IDC’s findings.

The experts at the event also discussed the impact of the arrival of artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT or Pangu – a large language model developed by Huawei – and said education leaders would need to think about how to update their programmes to truly develop the talent pool that industry and academia will need in the future.

“It’s definitely not just the ability to master such models as tools, but also how to think beyond artificial intelligence in order to keep leading and innovating,” said César Funes.

Education leaders have begun to think about what universities can and should offer in the future. Carlos Nazareth Marins, director of Inatel, Brazil, said: “Many teachers still think AI is a problem for education. But for me it’s a good solution for education. You can use AI to learn quickly. The challenge is also how to keep teachers learning new things.”

---

About Huawei

Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. We have approximately 197,000 employees and operate in over 170 countries and regions, serving more than three billion people around the world.

Our vision and mission is to bring digital to every person, home and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world. To this end, we will drive ubiquitous connectivity and promote equal access to networks; bring cloud and artificial intelligence to all four corners of the earth to provide superior computing power where and when it is needed; build digital platforms to help all industries and organisations become more agile, efficient and dynamic; and redefine user experience with AI, making it more personalised for people in all aspects of their life, whether they are at home, in the office or on the go.

Find out more about AF Comunicación Estratégica and its clients