Huawei adds AI to 4IR youth empowerment
by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG – HUAWEI has added online training in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to its portfolio of free training it offers South African information and communications technology (ICT) tertiary students.
Spawn Fan, the Huawei South Africa Chief Executive Officer, revealed the development at the online opening ceremony for the 2020 ‘Seeds for the Future’ training programme.
This represents an expansion of the programme aimed at empowering young people with globally relevant ICT skills.
It is part of a commitment to training in fourth industrial revolution
(4IR) technologies such as 5G and cloud computing, which it kicked off last year.
“To function in the emerging 4IR, ICT skills will be indispensable – for organisations, for individuals, and for society,” Fan said.
At the launch, Fan announced that Huawei had also begun the AI training programme for university and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college students in Gauteng and Limpopo provinces.
A total of 122 students are attending.
By the end of the course, they will be able to design, develop, and
innovate AI products and solutions.
Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, Minster of Communications and Digital
Technologies, attended the launch of the Seeds for the Future 2020.
She said the government of President Cyril Ramaphosa was committed to working with progressive partners that invest in the people of South Africa so they too could participate effectively and meaningfully in the digital future.
“Initiatives like Seeds of the Future give hope to South Africa. You
(students) represent a new brigade, which will drive the 4IR we are
committed to,” the minister said.
Seeds for the Future is Huawei’s global flagship corporate social
responsibility programme, designed to develop skilled, local ICT talent and bridge communication between countries and cultures.
In South Africa the programme is run in partnership with the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies.
Every year, a group of outstanding students are given the chance to
study new technologies and experience Chinese culture on a study trip to Beijing and Shenzhen.
– CAJ News
