RMIT University Vietnam students Hoa Phung and Thinh Nguyen of Team Catfish were named the ASEAN DSE Regional Finals 2020 grand winners for their presentation that was focused on People with Disability: Unlocking the economic bottleneck. 

This year’s virtual ASEAN DSE Regional Finals named the top 10 teams from 10 ASEAN nations that have presented data-driven solutions that can make a difference to its people, supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the region. The selected six SDGs themes that the participants covered in their proposed solutions are Good Health and Well-being, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, and Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Thomas Zipperle, Chief Financial Officer at SAP Southeast Asia said:

“The ASEAN DSE program underpins the cultural diversity that SAP celebrates and embraces in the ASEAN region. Digital skills are essential for the workforce of today and the future. SAP Analytics Cloud aims to bridge the digital gap in ASEAN and empower youths to create sustainable innovations to address socio-economic issues.” 

ASEAN Foundation and SAP Data Science Competition Winners

The participants’ innovative ideas were judged on the best all-rounded concept, which includes creativity, feasibility, and the team’s ability to demonstrate the implementation of the solution. The young contenders addressed issues such as social inequalities, relooking into and managing new energy sources, mental and physical health, empowering people with disabilities and youth to be active contributors to community and society, and growing ASEAN’s workforce through digital integration.

Executive Director of ASEAN Foundation, Dr. Yang Mee Eng, highlighted:

“ASEAN Foundation and SAP share the common objective of equipping youths with future-ready skills that will enable them to thrive in the new normal era and supporting the theme of Viet Nam’s ASEAN Chairmanship, which is building a ‘Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN.” 

As the regional champion, Team Catfish received the grand prize of USD 1,500. Sharing about their momentous win, the RMIT students said:

“The journey of ASEAN Data Science Explorers has taken us from our observations of the surroundings to data-driven solutions, and ultimately actions. From this, we now truly believe that, even as young people, we can contribute to building a better future. And as we’ve said in our presentation: ‘Let’s work together for a future that works.” 

The National University of Singapore and Yale-NUS College students Koay Tze Min and Ng Yi Ming of Team Halcyon Seraph took the first runner-up position and the USD 1000 prize for their presentation that was focused on ASEAN Women-UP Township Network covering SDG 5 – Gender Equality and SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth. 

Universiti Teknologi Brunei students Oscar Fang Jack Ling and Quah Chun Meng of Team Psyduck tackled SDG 4 – Quality Education, SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth, and SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities in their presentation that was focused on Digital Integration – the Key to Growth. The team took home USD 500 as a prize.

The top three presentations were part of the 852 proposals submitted this year.

The post RMIT University Vietnam Wins ASEAN Foundation, SAP Data Science Competition appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

Malaysia is particularly interested in improving its efficiency and productivity; however, the lack of talents to fill the pipeline is still a problem. And data analytics programs are playing an important role in filling the lack of data talents.

SAP and Academia have been collaborating in raising the quality and quantity of data analytics talents in Southeast Asia. One of its initiatives includes the ASEAN Data Science Explorers (ASEANDSE) 2019 competition. 

The ASEANDSE aims to enhance the digital literacy skills of youths in the region by collaborating with industry leaders and initiating data analytics programs. It will also promote the importance of civic participation.

The ASEAN Foundation and SAP held the Malaysia leg of the competition on 19 September 2019 at the Monash University.

This year’s theme was Today’s Youth for Tomorrow’s World. It focused on finding the capacity of data analytics in potentially finding solutions to the problems that impact the people and the environment.

More than 270 students from all over Malaysia received training on SAP Analytics Cloud, which helped them fast-track their projects. After the training, they were tasked to pick a social issue impacting the Southeast Asian region and used the software to obtain relevant insights.

The social issue of their choice needs to be aligned with one of six United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: decent work and economic growth, gender equality, good health, industry, innovation and infrastructure, quality education, and sustainable cities and communities.

The judges for the competition consisted of representatives from the ASEAN Foundation, Impact Hub, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), National Council of Women’s Organisation, SAP, and United Nations Development Programme.

Ten teams from seven participating universities presented their initiatives in the finals. Leong Zhuan Kee and Peh Wei Li, the winning team, presented data for their food sustainability project. They shared during an interview with Computer Weekly that the success of the presentation should be credited to the user-friendly industry solution provided by SAP.

MDEC’s share in boosting the data analytics talent pipeline

IDC shared the numbers of potential global revenues for big data and business analytics. According to the global market intelligence firm, the two technologies will surpass $210 billion in 2020 despite the 20,000-fold increase in data volumes between the year 2000 and year 2020.

MDEC’s data economy director, Karl Ng, also shared that big data is expected to boost Malaysia’s efficiency and productivity.

MDEC envisions a high-income and knowledge-based society by 2020. It has spearheaded ICT initiatives that focus on the data economy in hopes that it will become the foundation for artificial-intelligence initiatives. They have also been promoting the importance of continuous learning as an essential aspect of the digital culture of Malaysia.

IDC applauded initiatives such as the ASEAN Data Analytics Exchange (Adax), in its 2018 report. Adax is a regional platform that collaborates development models and talents and showcases the latest analytics technologies.

Adax has a proven track record of training 1,800 people from 298 companies across 19 industries since its establishment in 2017. These individuals learned skills to become data leaders, data managers, and data practitioners.

The post How Data Analytics Programs are Building Talents appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

Applications for 2019 Programme

The ASEAN Foundation and SAP are calling for applications for the ASEAN Data Science Explorers (ASEANDSE) 2019, targeted at tertiary students across all 10 ASEAN member states. This programme aims to harness the power of data to help solving the most pressing developmental issues in the region.

The ASEANDSE is a flagship programme rising from the collaboration between the ASEAN Foundation and SAP that aims to galvanise youth activism among students in ASEAN. The programme aims to increase youth activism by increasing their information technology competencies. As well as, transforming them into innovators who are capable of delivering data-driven recommendations and solutions that help contribute to the achievement of ASEAN Community’s goals.

The initiative integrates 2 key activities, which are a series of enablement sessions and a data analytics competition. Since its introduction in 2017, the ASEANDSE has empowered over 5,000 youths from 287 higher education institutions in the region and has been recognised by 10 ASEAN leaders for its contribution to youth development.

Competition Details

The competition will be carried out from February to October 2019, start off with informative enablement sessions organised for students and lecturers in local institutions of higher learning across all 10 ASEAN member states to improve their data analytics’ skills and knowledge. The enablement sessions will then be followed with a national and regional data analytics competition where successful youth applicants will converge to present data-driven proposals which highlight issues in ASEAN across 6 United Nation Sustainable Development Goals, namely good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure and sustainable cities and communities utilizing SAP’s Analytics Cloud software.

In order to take part in the competition, students are required to form teams of two. One participating team from each member state will stand a chance to be crowned as the national finalist before advancing to compete in the regional finals. At the highest honour of the regional finals, the 10 national finalists will be given the opportunity to present their winning ideas to a panel of judges which consists of distinguished representatives from the ASEAN Foundation, SAP and various government officials and selected NGO organisations.

The call for applications for the ASEANDSE 2019 will close on 17 May 2019.

The post Applications Open for the Annual ASEAN Data Science Explorers appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.