SHANGHAI, Sept. 22, 2023 -- The Huawei Connect 2023 TECH4ALL Summit on 20th September invited TECH4ALL partners from across the globe to share their insights into the key role that technology and partnerships play in enabling a more inclusive and sustainable digital world
Based on highlighting current project outcomes and best practices, a key theme of the summit was how partnerships serve as a bridge between ICT industries, governments, international organizations, research institutes, and NGOs to achieve common goals in the areas of inclusion and sustainability.
"We know that technologies such as broadband connectivity, cloud, the Internet of Things, and AI offer huge potential as rapid catalysts of change, changes that can benefit both people and the planet," said Peng Song, Senior Vice President for Huawei and President of ICT Strategy and Marketing in his opening speech.
Speaking for International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), James Hardcastle highlighted the Tech4Nature partnership jointly launched by IUCN and Huawei in 2021. With five pilot projects running globally, Tech4Nature aims to improve the management of 300 protected areas by developing innovative technology solutions and measuring conservation efficacy against the IUCN Green List Standard.
"Technology can revolutionize nature conservation. Through our Tech4Nature partnership, we can share and scale-up the technical solutions for biodiversity and climate change. However, it is not just the hardware that can help save costs and enable action. The most useful contribution of tech to conservation is the data analysis that is now possible. We can only accelerate access to intelligence and information better, smarter, effective decision-making through inclusive multi-stakeholder partnerships, said James Hardcastle, Head of Protected and Conserved Areas for IUCN.
At the summit, TECH4ALL partners launched two white papers and signed two strategic cooperation agreements with Huawei in the areas of education and environmental protection.
Two white papers launched
On behalf of Kenya's Ministry of Education (MoE), Martin Kungania launched the DigiSchool Report - Internet Connectivity to Schools. The report is based on the DigiSchool Internet Connectivity Project, a government-led initiative in partnership with UNESCO and Huawei, with phase one connecting nine secondary and three primary schools to high-speed Internet access in 2021.
"The government is currently working with UNESCO and Huawei on phase two which will connect more schools. This will include special schools for the hearing impaired and provide video conferencing technology to support their teachers and students, providing even greater benefit for disadvantaged learners," said Martin Kungania, National Coordinator of the Digital Literacy Programme under the Ministry of Education for Kenya.
The paper evaluates how the Internet enhances teaching and learning, identifies best practices for scalability and sustainability, and assesses how connectivity strengthens schools' administrative functions.
In the environmental domain, TECH4ALL partner Rainforest Connection (RFCx) released Harnessing the Power of Sound and AI to Monitor Biodiversity and Track Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) Targets.
"The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) outlines critical targets for preserving and restoring biodiversity worldwide, but we need effective monitoring tools to track our progress and ultimately achieve these goals," said Antony Harfield, Chief Technology Officer for RFCx. "The combination of ecoacoustics and AI offers a non-invasive, cost-effective, and scalable solution to this issue, facilitating evidence-based conservation and adaptive management," "We are thrilled to be working with TECH4ALL on projects around the world that showcase the power of sound and AI to track progress towards GBF targets."
Rainforest Connection and Huawei have to date deployed smart audio solutions to detect threats, such as illegal logging and poaching, and monitor biodiversity based on species' vocalizations in ocean, mountain, forest, and rainforest ecosystems in 15 countries.
Two strategic agreements signed
Signed by Huawei and the China Social Entrepreneur Foundation, the Youth Teacher Empowerment Education Plan continues an existing project for providing training in digital skills for young rural teachers. Launched in 2017, the program had trained nearly 125,000 young rural teachers as of June 2023, which has in turn benefited 6 million children in rural schools.
In the environmental domain, the Smart Conservation of the Yellow River Delta agreement signed by Huawei and Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve continues an ongoing project that has developed innovative solutions for researching, monitoring, and protecting birdlife in the Yellow River Delta area without disturbing local biodiversity. The project includes nesting stations for the endangered Oriental stork, just 10,000 of which remain distributed across East Asia.
The TECH4ALL booth at Huawei Connect showcased many of the initiative's projects, including DigiTruck, DigiSchool, Conserving Nature with Technology, to visitors attending the annual flagship event, which brought together business leaders, tech experts, partners, developers, and industry stakeholders from around the world to explore new opportunities for an intelligent future..
About TECH4ALL
TECH4ALL is Huawei's long-term digital inclusion initiative and action plan. Enabled by innovative technologies and partnerships, TECH4ALL is designed to help promote inclusion and sustainability in the digital world.
For more information, please visit Huawei TECH4ALL website at https://www.huawei.com/en/tech4all
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