Filipino students bagged second place in the regional finals of the ASEAN Data Science Explorers competition for their insights and data-driven solutions to solve the region’s pressing social issues.
Team Dimicrocambio of the Philippines, comprising Jade Hizon and John Rusty Perena from the Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology, came in second place with the project, ‘Recalibrating educational gears through entrepreneurship education,’ which focuses on how entrepreneurship education can empower students to turn their ideas into actions. It aims to produce graduates who are job creators and professionals with an entrepreneurial spirit who are more productive and self-sufficient in a bid to solve the perennial problem of unemployment in the region.
The experience was memorable for Jade and Rusty, who first bested Team Bazinga of Mapua University and Team Tony of De La Salle University in the Philippine national finals before moving on to the regional finals to become the runner up among all ASEAN country finalists. “We believe this is a great opportunity to address the youth unemployment in the region and drive social impact within our communities. Through entrepreneurship education, students can develop entrepreneurial attitudes, skills, and knowledge to thrive in today’s fast-paced, digital world.”
“Team Dimicrocambio displayed great passion in tackling today’s social issues through their project, ‘Recalibrating educational gears through entrepreneurship education,’” said Edler Panlilio, managing director, SAP Philippines. “At SAP, we are focused on empowering the youth with the right skills they need to thrive in the digital economy. In achieving a sustainable future, we must create opportunities for the younger generation, so they can help make our country, and then the world run better and improve people’s lives.”
Coinciding with Singapore’s ASEAN chairmanship in 2018, Singapore played host to the competition, now in its second edition running. This year, the initiative reached out to 5,000 youths across 175 institutes of higher learning in ASEAN to increase their digital literacy and cultivate a greater sense of responsibility and ownership of the region’s future. They were having trainings in SAP’s Analytics Cloud software through a series of webinars and in-country seminars, thereafter using their newly-acquired data skills to tackle six selected United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs.) These are (1) good health and well-being, (2) quality education, (3) gender equality, (4) decent work and economic growth, (5) industry, innovation & infrastructure and (6) sustainable cities and communities. Competition entries tripled this year with 801 student teams from a wide range of disciplines such as political science, engineering and architecture gleaning actionable insights from data to come up with solutions that have an impact on these areas.
Team Plan B of Singapore, comprising Tay Kai Jun and Madhumitha Ayyappan from NUS High School of Math and Science were crowned the ASEAN champion at the regional finals. Their winning project, ‘From Slumming to Sustainability’ aims to galvanize ASEAN to transform slums into sustainable microcities.
Meanwhile, team Pangolin of Vietnam, comprising Nguyen Van Thuan and Mai Thanh Tung from RMIT University Vietnam clinched third place for their project ‘Conquering the Waves of Global Trade’, which addresses the issue of disadvantaged trading due to the disparity in sea transport capacity among ASEAN countries.
“Education is one of the foundational cornerstones of ASEAN’s integration and socio-economic development blueprint. To this end, initiatives such as ASEAN Data Science Explorers promotes greater cross-border interaction and mobility across the region and equips our youths with critical skillsets needed to thrive in an increasingly challenging and disruptive future,” said Elaine Tan, Executive Director of the ASEAN Foundation. “We are very encouraged by the creativity and innovation displayed in the entries today, which is a strong testament to the passion of ASEAN youths to aimfully create a better future for their societies.”
ASEAN Foundation and SAP Extend Collaboration into 2019
The ASEAN Foundation and SAP also inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to extend their strategic collaboration into 2019, following the collaboration over the past two years. The MoU aims to support the trainings for youths in the skillsets as they join the workforce and equip them to potentially solve societal and economic issues facing the region.
“Our collaboration with the ASEAN Foundation over the past two years has yielded exceedingly positive outcomes in promoting purpose-driven innovation. We are very honored to play an integral part to help in upskilling the next generation workforce and providing them with the foundational platform to start driving social impact in their communities,” said Claus Andresen, President and Managing Director, SAP Southeast Asia. “2019 is shaping up to be the start of another promising era and we look forward to deepening our collaboration to help the world run better and improve lives.”
“The ASEAN Data Science Explorers competition is a great initiative to strengthen ICT skills and enhance youth employability within ASEAN,” said Ms. Adeline Lee, Head of Executive Support Division of ASEAN Secretariat. “The participants gain skills and insights valuable to launch their own professional careers, contribute to the digital economy and be ready for the Industrial Revolution 4.0. And we are keen to support the continued expansion of such programs through the ASEAN Foundation and SAP.”
