Huawei spearheads digitalization in APAC

HUAWEI Technologies Co. Ltd., in cooperation with the Asean Foundation, is taking the initiative in promoting digitalization in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

Speaking at the Huawei APAC Digital Innovation Congress 2022 held in Singapore, Ken Hu, Huawei rotating chairman, shared his observations on Thursday by saying “the Asia-Pacific region is one of the most culturally and economically vibrant regions in the world.”

“It plays an important role in global economic growth, and now it plays an equally important role in digital innovation,” said Hu.

He pointed out the fact that many APAC countries have elevated digital transformation to a strategic policy level and are “going green.” He cited countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea in taking these initiatives, which serve as groundwork leading to a robust digital economy.

Nicholas Ma, president of Huawei APAC Enterprise Business Group, echoes Hu’s observations.

Ma said digitalization will transform production systems of the economies of the region. Furthermore, he also said 1 billion of the population in APAC are enjoying digital government services.

Simon Lin, president for Huawei Asia-Pacific, added that as digitalization is the wave of the future, it has inspired APAC countries to issue clearly defined policies for digitalization.

Realizing its efforts are making an impact as motivated Huawei to further improve on its products and services. Ma said that 22 percent of its revenue is coursed back to its research and development (R&D) division to see how it can do better.

He also proudly announced that more than 200 cities around the world choose Huawei as its partner in their digitalization drives.

Hu also noted that the APAC region are taking the initiative to go green as countries in the region are heavily committed to sustainable development.

Lin echoed this, saying governments in APAC have implemented policies to promote sustainability. This has lead economies to become “more intelligent and greener.”

For his part, Lin said Huawei will use innovation to build a better green digital life. He added two more aspects leading to a greener and better life — an open and collaborative ICT (information communications technology) and an inclusive digital APAC.

“Huawei has established partnerships with 7,900 enterprise partners, 2,000 cloud partners and 200 universities,” said Lin. This underscores that Huawei is a trusted and reliable partner in digitalization.

The company also plans to bring “global R&D ability to the local market and innovates based on customer needs.”

Lin is hopeful that Huawei’s customers and partners will make use of these infrastructure they are helping put up to extend ICT capabilities to industry digitalization.

“As digitalization speeds up, we also see a strong demand for digital talent. According to the Korn Ferry report, Asia-Pacific will face a 47 million talent gap by 2030. At the same time, this region is full of young energy and potential,” he said.

One way Huawei is helping create inclusivity is through its Asean Academy and Seeds for the Future in cooperation with its local partners.

“In the next five years, we will continue to train 500,000 digital talent,” said Lin.