Huawei Technologies’ Seeds of Tomorrow programme is an immersive one, where in the past, the students chosen were taken to China for a once in a lifetime learning experience, with this technological giant.
However, due to Covid19, Huawei was unable to send those chosen abroad, but it did afford the company the opportunity to increase the number of students participating in the online programme, and the graduates have assured that they have indeed taken away a great deal.
Top Student, Brandon Mohammed
The graduation for the 20 students chosen this year, (13 undergrad students from UWI and 7 from UTT) took place this past Monday, November 30th at the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
Student Representative Rebecca Gibbon said “We came into this program slightly disappointed that we would not be able to travel to China and very excited and expectant to learn more from a leader in the ICT and telecommunications equipment field.
She said, as expected, they learnt about 5G – as Huawei is one of the largest global suppliers of telecommunications equipment- Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing. They even expected some very basic Mandarin and expected this program to help them bridge the gap between what they learnt to do in class and what is done in companies to develop these new or revolutionary technologies.
Student Representative, Rebecca Gibbon
However, Gibbons said, “We did not expect to learn as much as we did about Chinese culture, for example, the importance of social media and social media marketing to businesses in China compared to countries in this region and the widespread use of mobile payments in China. We also learned some interesting things from the courses available: did you know that sticky rice was the main ingredient used in making the paste for the great wall which allowed it to brave hundreds of years of weathering mostly intact? “
She said “We will cherish this opportunity that we were given. Our current societal norm prefers online interactions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, ICT has become more important than before and many of its advantages have been revealed. The increased use of technology in this brief period has shown us convenience: convenience in providing services and convenience in communicating with others, for example. We can use the information that we’ve learned to assist our country in developing ICT in Trinidad and Tobago to facilitate its growing popularity and demand. We can assist our country in achieving its goal of digital transformation from using AI and robotics to aid farmers in ploughing fields, controlling the presence of weeds and pests and harvesting crops, to even upgrading the PTSC bus system to accept online or mobile payments and offer real-time locations of buses.
TT Chamber of Commerce CEO, Gabriel Faria, one of the speakers, said students are in a “very exciting time.”
He said while other industries are struggling to cope with the effects of COVID19, technology industries are thriving. “Nowhere in the world is the training you underwent more relevant (than here).”
The main speaker was Minister of Digital Transformation, Mr Hassel Bacchus.
Minister in the Ministry of Public Administration and Digital Transformation, Senator Hassel Bacchus
He congratulated the students and told them that they now have to start thinking on a global scale, in terms of what this can lead to and the number of innovative things that have been happening.
Mr Bacchus said “I am absolutely sure that this programme would have changed some of your concepts and preconceived notions about the technology, how its used but also about how we can collaborate and what value that collaboration would bring.”
“I look forward to you entering into another phase of your development and seeing a number of you within the private sector, within your own businesses, within the employ of the government to help us along on this digital journey.”
He said “collaboration is the only way in which this transformation is going to succeed …and I think Huawei’s Seeds for the Future is a good example of that partnership working and taking people forward.”
The Graduating Students:
From The University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine Campus
• Jeremy Baksh – Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Romario Chung – Computer Science (Special)
• David Aaron Deonarine – Computer Science with Management (Special)
• Casey Forde – Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Stephen Ghool – Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Rebecca Gibbon – Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Katherine Lue Attin – Industrial Engineering
• Kalyani Mathura – Industrial Engineering
• Brandon Mohammed – Computer Science, Physics
• Raeanne Ramharrack – Computer Science (Special)
• Neera Ramsubhag – Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Kevin Sankar – Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Timothy Singh – Computer Science (Special)
From The University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT)
• Matthew Edwards – Software Engineering
• Rajiv Ganesh – Software Engineering
• Antonio Ganesh Sammy – Software Engineering
• Ronaldo Henry – Network and Telecommunications Engineering
• Aaron Maynard – Software Engineering
• Quinn Sambrano – Software Engineering
• Deven Ramlochan – Network and Telecommunications
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