Around a week ago, Chinese electric car start-up Nio unveiled its second sedan, considered as the latest competitor to Tesla Inc.

While the latter may be the world’s best-known manufacturer of electric vehicles (EVs) – Chinese brands are quickly catching up. This time, adding to the list of companies that are giving the American EV giant a run for its money is mobile tech giant Huawei Technologies Co.

Huawei, best known for its telecommunications products and smartphones, isn’t making electric cars of their own but is working with automakers on car technology such as autonomous driving.

At its maiden launch, Huawei introduced the Aito M5–the first model under the Aito brand, (an acronym for “adding intelligence to auto”). 

Huawei’s consumer and business group executive director Richard Yu at the company’s winter product launch event yesterday said that the Aito M5 is part of automaker Seres.

Seres’ cars have previously only incorporated Huawei components, but not Huawei’s design.

That said, Aito M5 is the first car running on Huawei’s HarmonyOS operating system (OS) and it runs on both electricity and fuel, according to Yu.

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Prior to this, Huawei had collaborated with Chinese automobile companies to launch cars like the SERES Hybrid sedan and the Avatar 11 electric SUV.

That said, this is not Huawei’s first foray into the automobile industry.

How do Huawei and Aito M5 come together?

Integrating the HarmonyOS into the new Seres car in China is a concept that is sought after by many electric car start-ups.

Many reckon that automobiles will eventually grow into a role not unlike the one smartphones play in the lives of consumers.

Reports quoting Yu’s one-hour presentation highlighted the features of Aito M5 which include peak power and driving range that is better than Tesla’s Model Y. 

Unlike Tesla’s cars, however, the Aito M5 is not purely powered by electricity as it has a fuel tank for extending driving range when the battery runs out of power.

“This model also has the ultimate cornering performance, which is stronger than McLaren. Its performance surpasses many fuel vehicles and surpasses many pure electric vehicles,” added Yu.

The Aito M5 interface also provides advanced sense and intelligent functions, “surpassing all models and car companies, such as L2 + level intelligent driving assistance, HarmonyOS smart split-screen”, and others.

To top it off, Huawei’s OS will integrate some of its smartphone-oriented technology into the vehicle. A Huawei smartwatch, for example, can be used to start the Aito M5.

Huawei’s push into electric cars signals a major shift in business focus for Huawei after two years of US sanctions that have cut its access to key supply chains, forcing it to sell a part of its smartphone business.

Even mobile giants such as Xiaomi Corp have been stepping up efforts in the world’s biggest market for such vehicles, as Beijing heavily promotes greener vehicles to reduce carbon emissions.

The post China’s electric car industry heats up as Huawei joins the race appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Thailand is leading the region in mobile network technology as it has become the first country to launch ASEAN’s first 5G Smart Hospital. 

The collaboration with Huawei Technologies aims to bring patients a more convenient and efficient experience by introducing 5G, cloud, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. This includes promoting Siriraj Hospital to become a model for smart hospitals in Thailand and the world.

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First and largest 5G smart hospital in ASEAN

According to a press statement from Huawei, the 5G smart hospital project is the “first and largest” in Thailand and the Southeast Asian region. The new digital health care facility is located in Bangkok and will showcase various innovative digital applications. 

Both Huawei and the Siriraj Hospital strengthened their partnership around 5G since the pandemic started. A five-year memorandum of understanding of an immediate upgrade of the hospital’s previous infrastructure and the conduct of demonstration exhibitions and events to promote 5G was signed by both parties recently.

The Siriraj World Class 5G Smart Hospital project comprises nine sub-projects comprising smart emergency rooms and emergency medical service, a pathological diagnosis system with 5G and AI, an AI platform for non-communicable diseases, smart inventory management, a permission-based blockchain for personal health records, smart logistics with a 5G self-driving car, multi-access edge computing and a hybrid cloud system.

Siriraj Hospital and Huawei also stated that they established a Joint Innovation Lab to incubate innovative 5G applications. It is expected that 30 5G medical applications will be incubated and promoted nationwide in 2022.

The first step in the utilization of digital technologies

“The Thai government understands the importance of technology, successfully drafting a plan for Digital Thailand. The utilization of digital technologies and 5G in the medical field will help reduce processes for medical personnel, decrease overall risk, and will improve the effectiveness and efficacy of healthcare for patients, Thailand Prime Minister and Minister of Defence General Prayut Chan-o-cha said during his address on the national policy on 5G technology and digital economy.

He added that Siriraj 5G Smart Hospital is a pilot project, which will expand to other hospitals in the future. 

Abel Deng, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Technologies (Thailand) Co., Ltd., highlighted that this cross-sector collaboration will enhance and upgrade the services of Siriraj Hospital to progress it to become a smart medical centre using digital technologies based on 5G, AI, Big Data infrastructure, and Cloud Edge processing for patient tracking, disease diagnosis by AI on Cloud, data storage and analysis, and allocation of resources.

All of which will help pave the way to fulfil the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital’s vision to become the “Medical Institute of the Nation, a Creator of Global Citizen Wellbeing”, and a Smart Hospital model for other hospitals in Thailand,” he said.

“This signifies a model for upgrading Thailand’s public health industry in the future and contributes to Siriraj’s transition to becoming a Smart Hospital, in line with Huawei’s mission to Grow in Thailand, Contribute to Thailand,” said Deng.

The post Thailand, Huawei unveil ASEAN’s first 5G “Smart Hospital” appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

About a year ago, on September 15, 2020, the US officially cut off Huawei from all suppliers, whose products contain US technologies, prompting many overseas media to speculate then whether Huawei, which has been reliant upon chip imports, can survive such a ban. Yet, against all odds, Huawei’s business performance exceeded market expectations and the company is even ready to put China at the forefront of 6G wireless technology development.

In fact, in defiance of a US crackdown on the Chinese tech giant, founder, and CEO Ren Zhengfei told employees to “break limits in the sky” and set global standards for the emerging industry. It also signals the company’s resilience despite a year-long US ban. According to a NikkeiAsia report, the Chinese tech giant’s plans to develop 6G also arrives as the US and Japan also push ahead with the next-gen telecom tech. 

The report even mentioned an internal company document that states the brand’s intention to continue to develop 5G and Artificial Intelligence businesses while also moving forward in next-generation technology. If there would be any hurdle in their ambitious 6G plans, it would likely come in the form of the US, which has imposed various sanctions in the past that had essentially crippled its once notable smartphone business. 

The company reported its largest-ever revenue decline in the first half of 2021, mainly due to its lackluster smartphone business. Although the founder acknowledged the effects of these US trade restrictions, he added that “Our research into 6G is preparation against a rainy day, and we aim to seize the ground of 6G patents. We must not wait until 6G becomes viable, as waiting would impose constraints on us due to a lack of patents.”

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Currently, 6G has become a point of competition between major economies. China has prioritized 6G technologies as one of its key research areas for a while now, while the US and Japan are pouring money into 6G development, including its use in satellite technologies — one of America’s strong suits.

Notably, both Japan and the US actually lags behind China in terms of 5G development and deployment.

6G for China by 2030? 

When the Chinese telecom giant unveiled its 6G plans, it aimed to launch 6G products around 2030. The target was not changed but the barriers to achieving such a goal are becoming more notable. The company’s rotating chairman Eric Xu Zhiju in a recent book preface — which was published on Huawei’s online community Xinsheng — discussed the obstructions.

According to Xu, 6G has a more complicated technology environment than 5G, with the impact likely to come from multiple technologies like cloud computing, blockchain, and big data. He disclosed that Huawei started investment in 6G research in 2017 when it was pushing 5G commercialization. 

“Huawei will define 5.5G and research 6G at the same time in the next few years, and it is a test of the whole industry’s imagination and creativity whether 6G can surpass (5G and 5.5G technologies),” Xu wrote.

Inevitably though, the shadow of geopolitical uncertainties hanging over the research and development of 6G technologies may still lead to the exclusion of Huawei from overseas markets in 6G products. 

“Whether the industries can achieve satisfying results (in 6G development) around 2030 largely depends on such factors as if the process of defining 6G is open enough, whether the participants are pluralistic, and if the communication is thorough enough,” Xu said. He also noted that Huawei is willing to hold discussions with companies and industries that might need 6G technologies to define 6G jointly. 

While the US and China are already fighting for 6G dominance, most of the world is yet to experience the benefits of a 5G network. Analysts have been saying it for a while now — that if political tensions worsen, it’s also possible that 6G will have two sets of standards instead of one which may, in turn, increase the costs of connectivity and bring losses to global companies.

Overall, years of acrimony under the Trump administration have no doubt, hit Chinese technology companies hard, but that hasn’t stopped the country from emerging as the leader in 5G. China has the world’s largest 5G footprint, and — despite multiple attempts by the US to take it on — Huawei towers over rival 5G vendors globally, mostly by offering attractive prices.

The post Huawei leads China to dominate 6G race against US & Japan appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Huawei said the investment would go towards its Spark Program in the Asia Pacific region, which aims to build a sustainable startup ecosystem for the region over the next three years. Huawei has been helping Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand build their startup hubs. 

At the summit, Huawei also announced that this program would focus its efforts on developing four additional startup hubs – in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam – with the overarching aim of recruiting a total of 1,000 startups into the Spark accelerator program and shaping 100 of them into scaleups.

Also at this summit, Huawei launched its Cloud-plus-Cloud Collaboration and Joint Innovation Program, to further ramp up its support for startups around the world. 

Asia Pacific Spark Program

Three additional initiatives under the Asia Pacific Spark Program were launched by Huawei at the summit. They include the Spark Developer Program, which aims to nurture a developer ecosystem powered by HUAWEI CLOUD in the Asia Pacific region; the Spark Pitstop Program, designed to onboard and support startups on HUAWEI CLOUD to accelerate product development; and the Spark Innovation Program (SIP), focused on facilitating enterprise innovation through the Spark startup ecosystem.

“Startups and SMEs are the innovators, disruptors, and pioneers of our times. 34 years ago, Huawei was a startup with just 5,000 dollars of registered capital. Recently, we have been thinking: How can we leverage our experience and resources to help more startups address their challenges? Doing so would allow them to seize the opportunities posed by digital transformation, achieve business success, and develop more innovative products and solutions for the world.”, said Huawei Senior Vice President and Board Member Catherine Chen.

“Today, we launched our Cloud-plus-Cloud Collaboration and Joint Innovation Program, through which we will support startups with US$40 million worth of resources. Half of that investment is coming from HUAWEI CLOUD, half from Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). In 2021, our plan is to support 200 startups in the HMS ecosystem and share our network of channel resources with developers worldwide who together serve 1 billion Huawei device users. In addition, we will open an HMS Developer Innovation Center to support 100,000 HMS cloud-native developers.” added Zhang Ping’an, CEO of Huawei’s Cloud Business Unit.

The HMS Developer Innovation Center aims to cultivate future talent in cooperation with 210 leading universities across the Asia Pacific region.

More and more startups are pursuing end-to-end digitalization as they move towards a fully connected, intelligent world. Huawei’s cloud offerings help developers and partners to unify accounts, development platforms, and app distribution and operation. HMS is now the world’s third-largest mobile app ecosystem and is helping many startups expand their global influence. Currently, 4.5 million developers from over 170 countries and regions rely on HMS.

Jeffery Liu, President for Asia Pacific Region of Huawei, added that “Leveraging Huawei’s global customer base and full-stack technologies, the Spark Program will invest more than US$100 million over the next three years, and provide comprehensive support to the establishment of a sustainable startup ecosystem that creates new value for this dynamic region.”

Prognosis good for startup ecosystem here

One of the biggest concerns for any startup today is access to funding. For tech startups, funding is the key ingredient in ensuring they can develop their ideas and start their business. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the venture capital (VC) investment landscape globally. However, in the Asia Pacific (APAC), it has not dampened the spirits of startups and organizations seeking early-stage funding. GlobalData’s Financial Deals database showed the share of early-stage funding rounds remained at more than 65% which is promising for startups here.

For example, startups in Indonesia, along with micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) form the backbone of the business landscape in Southeast Asia’s (SEA) largest economy, which has in recent years seen a shift towards a healthy and dynamic startup ecosystem. Taking the workforce and youthful, millennial-owned landscape of business in Indonesia, Indonesia is set to achieve and drive strong economic recovery. In fact, millennial MSMEs will be the key force behind Indonesia’s economic rebound.

The prognosis is good for fintech startups in Indonesia – their platforms will see continued usage due to their user-centric design, convenience, and ease of use despite any difficulties that might have been presented by the pandemic. This resilience would then translate into helping the startup and MSME sectors to survive, and with the proper capital, ideally thrive.

The post More support for APAC startup ecosystem soon from Huawei appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Embattled Chinese tech giant Huawei is on its long journey to increased self-reliance, will only roll out its homegrown mobile operating system, HarmonyOS, within the Asian region – with no immediate plans for global implementation anytime soon, as the telecommunications giant fights for survival in the smartphone hardware market after US’ sanctions blocked it from using Android OS in its devices.

The ban had eviscerated the core functionality of Huawei’s once-thriving smartphone business, as well as other connected gadgets as they could no longer obtain Google’s license to run Android. The Shenzhen-based Huawei, the world’s largest telecom equipment maker and formerly China’s biggest smartphone vendor, said that it expected 300 million devices to run Harmony by year’s end – and would pile on resource investments to boost its user base to 1.2 billion by 2024. 

When a beta version was released earlier this year, only about 300,000 Huawei smartphone users signed up. By this week, the new HarmonyOS 2.0 – launched a year after the inaugural HarmonyOS debuted – passed 10 million users, as it gathers traction within China, according to a report by GSMArena. The update to HarmonyOS 2 is available for the Mate 40 series, P40 series, Mate 30 series, and MatePad Pro devices in China, while the Huawei P30 series along with Honor 30 and V30 series will get closed betas this month and public beta trials in July 2021.

HarmonyOS 2.0 is billed as the world’s first operating system dedicated to the era of the Internet of Things. Without the use of smartphone-native apps, it is claimed that the operating system is able to function across a wide array of devices and household items. HarmonyOS 2.0 is expected to run on up to 300 million devices by the end of this year, including 200 million Huawei smartphones.

At the virtual launch of HarmonyOS 2.0 recently, the company announced partnerships with several domestic and international firms to run its mobile operating system on their smart devices, including Chinese home appliances giant Midea Group, drone maker SZ DJI Technology Co, and Swiss watch producer Tissot.

HarmonyOS 2.0 differentiates itself from Android and Apple’s iOS because it was designed to work on a wide range of IoT devices as well as smartphones, according to the president of the Huawei consumer business group’s software unit Wang Chenglu. These devices include smartwatches, smart televisions, smart home appliances, and other sensor-equipped gadgets that are connected to the internet and interact with mobile applications.

The stakes are high for Huawei and other major technology companies in the Asia-Pacific, as regional spending on IoT is expected to reach US$288.6 billion this year, IDC claimed. It is fair to note, however, overhauling its competition would be a mammoth task for Huawei; Google has about 86% and Apple the remaining 14% of the smartphone operating system market, according to the research firm IDC. Several competitors have unsuccessfully tried to take a share, among them Microsoft and Samsung, which is the world’s smartphone leader with about 22% of sales.

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HarmonyOS users have slowly become an important community in China, as there aren’t any Google Mobile Services anyway and there is a reasonably large population. The data Huawei has already shared is impressive. HarmonyOS already has the world’s third-largest app ecosystem, the company boasted back in March. “As of today, there are more than 300 application and service providers, over 1,000 hardware manufacturers, and at least 500,000 developers in the HarmonyOS ecosystem,” said Huawei’s spokesperson. 

What may stifle adoption outside of China is that, without access to Google, YouTube, Facebook, and many other popular apps and services, the OS may have an issue taking off outside China. Many of these popular global services are already blocked in the country, though, so it could fare better there.

The post Huawei’s homegrown smartphone OS designed for the era of IoT appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

In some farewell shots, the outgoing Donald Trump presidential administration has revoked the licenses of several of Huawei Technologies Co.’s US suppliers such as Intel, attempting to make it harder than ever for the Chinese telecommunications giant to pursue its business-critical operations Stateside.

Trump administration sanctions have cut Huawei off from business-critical relationships with the likes of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which provided the Android software on hundreds of millions of Huawei smartphones, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. for its cutting-edge chips.

Most other top Chinese tech firms have similarly been reprimanded, as part of a campaign to curb China’s technological rise. They include China’s three biggest telecom firms, its top chipmaker, its biggest social media and gaming platforms, and its top two smartphone makers, along with several others.

The ramifications of being on the US trade blacklist has sent Huawei’s once-thriving 5G network and smartphone businesses into a downward spiral: practically no nation with affiliations to the US will use its market-leading 5G infrastructure for their next-generation networks, and its mobile unit has lost significant market share since its handsets can no longer use Google’s Android OS, while Huawei developed its own proprietary operating system.

Once a world leader in communications technology, the outlook does not look rosy for the consumer businesses of Huawei Technologies. But industry watchers are expecting the company to further its push into software businesses, while its networking and mobile units reorganize.

What does this mean for businesses?

With its pullback from consumer operations, businesses in Asia Pacific can expect to see Huawei Technologies cropping up more in software-oriented products – most of it focusing on developments for enterprises.

Huawei will likely focus on the Harmony operating system it is developing for its smartphones after being cut off from Alphabet’s Android, pointed out Nicole Peng, the vice president of mobility at consultancy firm Canalys.

The self-developed operating system, HarmonyOS has been in development for three years. Huawei has also confirmed that its OS will be available as an open-source operating system used by other Chinese OEMs to build bridges between its local market and Western markets.

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Elsewhere in software, Huawei will likely pivot more towards services such as its cloud computing division Huawei Cloud, as well as developments in Internet of Things (IoT) smart devices, though these are unlikely to offset the slowdown in smartphones and telecommunication infrastructure, analysts said.

Huawei Cloud itself has launched in excess of 200 cloud services and at least 190 cloud-based solutions including 43 Ascend-powered artificial intelligence (AI) cloud services which will enable corporations to leverage AI computing power in the cloud ecosystem.

This mammoth growth has seen Huawei Cloud claw its way to the top, finding itself among the IaaS elite, becoming the third-biggest cloud provider in China, and the sixth-biggest globally. The strong performance of Huawei Cloud, plus the dwindling fortunes of its other businesses, has caused Huawei to give equal credence to its cloud unit as it does for its smartphones and 5G gear interests.

The post Here’s how Huawei will survive its 5G and mobile losses appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The technical landscape between China and the US has never been more complex. It has been over a year since Huawei was blacklisted by the US government, and while others have tried and failed to challenge Google and Apple’s dominance, Huawei is loaded for bear.

Huawei’s severance from Google’s products forced it to fashion its own Play Store alternative, and that’s sent Chinese tech giant down an Apple-like path — a leading device manufacturer with its own app ecosystem, mobile services framework, and an operating system (OS).

But Huawei’s chairman Guo Ping is optimistic about building “a new open system” for the world; “And since Huawei helped Android to succeed, why not make our own system successful. It’s plausible to have two systems in a world. And Huawei will be able to survive and take the lead even in an extremely hostile environment.” 

To date, Google has been pretty ambivalent – the US has restricted Huawei’s access to premium chipsets, which signals a sharp decline in Huawei smartphones over the next year. But that’s not set to remain the case in the long run.

HarmonyOS — Huawei’s self-developed OS

This year has been a period of survival, so says Huawei (more often than not with tongue-in-cheek). Ironically, the company is too well-monied and successful in its home market — with the backing of Beijing — to suffer any material shock. Starting next year, Huawei will officially drop Android for its in-house HarmonyOS software. 

The self-developed operating system, HarmonyOS has been in development for three years. Huawei has also confirmed that its OS will be available as an open-source operating system used by other Chinese OEMs to build bridges between China and the West.

As tough as replacing Google is — and many analysts suggest it is near impossible — the chipset issue is a much greater concern. However, Huawei looks intent on playing a long-game, with the balance sheet to do so. As reported by China’s state-controlled Global Times, Guo “compared cultivating HMS as a protracted war that Huawei is destined to win in the end.”

On the other hand, China now has two of the top three smartphone manufacturers, a stated intent to push domestic capabilities at the expense of imports, and Huawei fast building an ecosystem that it says will compete with Android and iOS, to create a third global OS for the industry.

Regardless, it’s now almost inevitable that the world’s mobile ecosystems have changed irreversibly. The Android/iOS dominance that looked unshakable when Trump announced his blacklist in May last year is now being shaken hard. 

More tech giants to abandon Google OS?

In fact, Huawei isn’t the only tech giant that looks set to shun a Google-made operating system. Rumors are circulating that OnePlus could skip the Google-made OS on an upcoming device — its upcoming OnePlus Watch. 

Perhaps, Huawei’s move and probably OnePlus’ would set a trend of more tech giants abandoning Google OS. On the surface, little has changed in recent months: Google is still missing from Huawei’s new devices; US officials still lobby hard for other governments to exclude Huawei from their 5G plans; the Commerce Department is expected to extend the temporary license for maintaining legacy products — again, and the tech giant keeps tightening the lock on its domestic market to keep revenues on track.

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Meanwhile, Huawei is doing two things. First, it’s piling time and resources into a new alternative to Google and its software and services. Since the earliest days of the blacklist, the company’s management has admitted that developing a viable alternative to Google will take years. That work is underway. It may or may not succeed — realistically its biggest challenge is Xiaomi, which is seeking to replicate the cut-price quality reputation Huawei used to build its overseas brand.

Inevitably though, 2020 has been a year of reinvention and the irony is that the pandemic is changing companies and industries at an unprecedented rate and scale. Huawei’s shift to new territories will be simply one among many.

The post Bye, bye Android — Huawei’s HarmonyOS gets ready to play appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Ahead of Apple’s upcoming iPhone launch, A-series chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), reported a 22% surge in quarterly sales.

According to Bloomberg’s calculations from TSMC’s monthly sales data, the latter saw revenue for the three months to September climb to a record NT$356.4 billion (US$12.4 billion), up from NT$293 billion a year earlier.

Apple is one of the chipmaker’s biggest customers and business will often increase in the months before Apple unveils new iPhones and the holiday season, amid solid and growing demand for chips for 5G, Internet of Things (IoT) and high-performance computing applications.

For the first nine months of the year, TSMC reported record accumulated sales of NT$977.722 billion, up 29.9% from a year earlier.

Reports suggest that TSMC is likely to receive a boost during the quarter as its second-largest customer Huawei Technologies raced to stockpile supplies before a US ban on shipments to the Chinese telecom giant came into effect last month. 

Meanwhile, rival chipmaker Samsung Electronics reported recent earnings that beat analyst estimates after it’s mobile and chip businesses benefited from the curbs on Huawei.

Concurrently, Taiwanese chipmakers United Microelectronics Corp. and MediaTek also reported strong sales, suggesting a broad recovery in the industry.

The computer chips made by TSMC aren’t just the brains inside smartphones, laptops, and video game consoles — they’re also core components of almost every kind of electronic equipment in the world, from that used in data centers to F-35 fighter jets. Along with nearly 500 others, Apple, Huawei, Sony, Qualcomm, Broadcom, and HiSilicon are all TSMC’s clients.

Leading companies like Huawei and Apple design but don’t actually manufacture their own chips unlike integrated device manufacturers, such as Intel and Samsung, which design and then make the chips used in their own products.

TSMC’s model is that of a dedicated “pure-play” foundry: it only operates on a contract basis and doesn’t sell devices of its own design. 

Over the last three decades, TSMC has invested in 18 state-of-the-art chipmaking facilities — called “fabs,” for “fabrication facility” — in Taiwan and today the firm accounts for more than half of the US$42 billion foundry segment of the semiconductor industry. In July this year, it raised its 2020 outlook, highlighting that revenue this year will grow by more than 20% in dollar terms. 

TSMC executives also affirmed plans to build a plant in Arizona, saying that the US administration and the state of Arizona closed the cost gap for building the fab. 

The company had previously said the $12 billion facilities will begin construction in 2021, with production targeted to begin in 2024. 

The post TSMC sales surge ahead of new Apple iPhone launch appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Worldwide, more than 1.5 billion students have had their educations disrupted this year. And some parties, including the United Nations, feel that prolonged school closures at critical ages could lead to a “generational catastrophe”.

“We are at a defining moment for the world’s children and young people,” said UN chief Antonio Guterres. “The decisions that governments and partners take now will have a lasting impact on hundreds of millions of young people, and on the development prospects of countries for decades to come.”

An estimated 40% of the world’s poorest countries failed to support learners at risk during the COVID-19 crisis, and UNESCO forecasts that 23.8 million additional children and youth (from pre-primary to tertiary) may drop out or not have access to school next year due to the pandemic’s economic impact alone.

Ensuring learning continuity during the time of school closures became a priority for governments the world over, many of which turned to technology for a solution. 2020 marked the largest ever shift towards new learning tools and outcomes outside of the classroom. Anthony Xu, the president of the education segment of Huawei’s Global Government Business Unit told Tech Wire Asia that while the ICT adoption at this scale was a challenge, adapting ‘distance learning’ approaches had always been complex.

“Traditionally, the educational departments and institutions faced some similar challenges, such as inefficient management of scattered schools, difficult sharing of educational resources, and education inequality,” said Xu, who oversees the strategy and execution of Huawei’s ‘smart education’ solutions.

Around Asian countries, education development levels are diverse, but connectivity is always a challenge for most of these countries. Addressing the widening educational equality gap with more disadvantaged communities such as minorities and displaced students.

Quality internet accessibility has taken on new importance during this period, particularly throughout Asia where internet quality can vary greatly even with the wider availability of mobile internet. “It indeed requires high quality of networks and put a strain on network upgrade,” said Xu.

“Now governments are more and more concentrating on providing higher speed network services such as 5G and Wi-Fi 6, so it is also a chance to facilitate the construction of our IT infrastructure.”

Xu says the application of transformational technologies like AI, cloud, and big data would profoundly add to the current learning environment, just some of the benefits of leveraging data-driven insights and improved connectivity.

“5G will provide us [with an] unprecedented learning experience. Students’ learning and growth statistics can be monitored precisely and improved efficiently. Premium resources can be shared more extensively. Educational content will also become interesting and vivid. Personalized education can be achieved easily.”

The first overseas campus opened by major Chinese university, Xiamen University Malaysia in Sepang, Malaysia had “high requirements for network capacity, indoor wireless coverage, and high-bandwidth access, with an additional need for an advanced data center.”

Education ICT is not restricted to only improving network and on-campus performance, either. “Well-designed ICT solutions can be used to share resources, bring rich knowledge to students, enhance teachers’ practices and students’ performance, improve school management, and support data-driven policymaking,” said Xu.

These innovations allow virtual teaching to becomes easier and more efficient. For example, educators could create original, diverse content using multi-media tools, and their classes can be carried out anytime via the internet. And the availability of big data and cloud technologies will allow teachers to immediately get teaching statistics and make precise self-adjustments to their curriculums.

Xu thinks a blended learning ecosystem might take root, and embellish intelligent education IT even further and “make up for shortcomings of traditional teaching.”

“Generally smart education involves 3 categories of elements,” continued Xu. “The first one is IT infrastructure which aims to connect each learner and educator, provides intelligent devices and data storage.

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“The second one is the platform and applications which can provide smart tools for teaching, managing, and analyzing in the whole process of education. The third one is the digital content which is provided by ministry and teachers.”

Xu believes the education IT convergence will remain relevant long after the pandemic’s effects have faded to the background. “ICT innovations is changing our daily life, as well as education. Intelligent education is not only about technologies – it is also about the people who are using these technologies.

“People is the critical part of this education revolution. So please be open to the unknown, and embrace the new era of intelligent education.”

The post Has 2020 ushered in a new era of ‘intelligent education’? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

IT companies like Huawei were looking to offset slowing digital adoption in more mature markets with accelerating interest in the emerging markets of Southeast Asia, even before the global COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on local economies.

“The Myanmar telecom market started late. But developed very fast in the past few years,” Ding Zhaoyi, Huawei Myanmar’s CEO, told Eleven Media Myanmar. “Huawei cooperated with [local] operators such as MPT, Telenor, Ooredoo, and Mytel, with the rapid deployment of communications networks in Myanmar, it has brought Myanmar to the information society in a few years, greatly changing the development of various industries and people’s work and life.”

The coronavirus crisis subsequently interrupted the country’s economic expansion, which had been so strong in early 2020 that Myanmar is tipped to narrowly escape the recession that is befalling many of its neighbors. The World Bank revised Myanmar’s 2019-2020 financial year growth forecast from 6.4% to just 0.5%, but even as all sectors were affected– the agriculture and information and communications technology (ICT) sectors have proven remarkably resilient.

Indeed, Myanmar’s ICT sector is experiencing a surge of activity driven by a COVID-19-caused increase in telecommuting and e-commerce, and sudden spikes in data demand has seen many companies – both private and public – turning in record numbers to cloud services.

“Almost all companies are now using video conferencing tools, and they have also explored cloud services so they can access their work systems from home,” Shane Thu Aung, co-founder and chairman of the Yangon-based Global Technology Group that produces high-speed broadband services, told Oxford Business Group. “They need to connect through the cloud due to heavy user traffic. Most government and private sector applications are also going over to the cloud.”

Companies in business hubs had to ensure that their employees were prepared to work remotely for the first time, improving internet connectivity from homes and adopting new tools that are more suited for work-from-home arrangements.

This is the first time the local digital economy has swung towards prioritizing home broadband over developing its mobile internet connectivity, and the pandemic-driven new demand for internet-based services is seeing businesses increasingly looking to adopt digital payment solutions.

Similarly, to avoid cash transactions, a number of restaurants and stores have been pivoting their operations towards a more e-commerce friendly model. The sharp uptake in digital products and platforms is being strongly encouraged by the Myanmar government, including the use of e-commerce alternatives by smaller businesses, the use of bank transfers and card payments to complete online purchases, and the increasing use of mobile payments.

The government likely looks at these new ICT developments as building upon the nation’s existing infrastructure and heightened internet coverage, in line with its Myanmar Digital Economy Roadmap that aims to increase internet penetration from 40% last year, to 50% by 2025.

Myanmar’s better-than-expected digital rebuilding before and throughout its pandemic response is proving to be attractive to foreign investors and stakeholders, such as Huawei Technologies, which has been active in Myanmar since 2011. “Myanmar is very important to Huawei, and Huawei is also very important to Myanmar,” mused Huawei Myanmar chief executive Ding.

Huawei was one of a number of Chinese firms that were contributing towards the COVID-19 relief efforts around the Mekong delta. “In Myanmar, Huawei is providing technological services in artificial intelligence (AI) and video conferencing – more than 700 lakhs MMK (approximately US$50,000) in contributions,” Ding told Eleven Media.

“Huawei’s Telemedicine Video Conference Solution [is] deployed at University of Medicine Yangon and the Central Institute of Civil Services (Phaung Gyi) which is a set-up hospital with the capacity to treat up to 2000 COVID-19 positive patients, and MOHS has enabled government and medical experts with epidemic prevention, multi-collaboration, online consultations and interactive training that not only enhances diagnosis efficiency – but also significantly helps reduce risk of infection for the entire medical team.”

Huawei Cloud AI is also extending its services, not just to combat the pandemic, but to provide assistance to get local small medium enterprises (SMEs) back on their feet.

“We have a global action plan to help customers around the world to fight COVID-19 with cloud and AI services,” noted Ding. “In Myanmar, Global Wave Together with Huawei Cloud are planning to offer an online check-in function which will be beneficial for 200,000 local SME employees during COVID-19 pandemic.”

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As its Chinese government ties continue to impact Huawei’s ICT dealings in a number of (mainly US-allied) countries, Ding thinks that Huawei will be one of the major contributors to Myanmar’s burgeoning ICT landscape – and not just as a network infrastructure provider.

“Huawei helps Myanmar rapidly and efficiently deploy information systems and services for various industries, such as finance, retail, logistics, transportation, education, media assets, and medical care,” he said. “And fulfill the social responsibility of the enterprise to promote the sustainable development of society.

“In addition, Myanmar is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world. It is expected to continue in the next few years and has a large population. It is an emerging market for the ICT industry.”

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