International organisations can play a crucial role in promoting ICT for economic recovery - Huawei

BRUSSELS, 25 May 2020 – International, multilateral organisations have a crucial role to play in promoting ICT technologies - to help the European and global economies recover from the Covid-19 crisis, Huawei’s Chief Representative to the EU Institutions Abraham Liu said during an online debate today.

“Huawei has demonstrated know-how and dedication during recent months, setting up 5G networks with telecom operators in hospitals , providing technological solutions for telemedicine and for pandemic control procedures,” said Abraham Liu during the debate “Economic Transition into the ‘New Normal’: how can international organisations help European economies bounce back”, organised by The Brussels Times. “5G and AI technologies are also used in vaccine development and have played a key role in reliable medical data quantitative analysis. Our technology has also been successfully applied to managing public and private sector re-opening,” Abraham Liu underlined.

“The process of innovation does not stop at any defined geographical border,” Mr Liu added. “The Horizon Europe research, innovation and science programme 2021-2027 is a key policy instrument that can play an important role in boosting economic competitiveness in Europe, delivering the EU Green deal and tackling the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

As lockdowns lift cautiously across Europe, the focus of collective attention is shifting to what key players can do to help the economy recover. Today’s debate, moderated by Digital Storyteller Dan Sobovitz and The Brussels Times journalist Pauline Bock, asked how the good practice that has come to the fore during the pandemic can be shared in the future, to ensure safe progress to renewed economic prosperity in Europe.

High-level representatives from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), World Economic Forum (WEF), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Croatian Presidency of the EU Council took part in the webinar.

Learn ON programme

Another good example of Huawei’s collaboration with international organisations is in its Learn ON programme to prevent education disruption during the pandemic. Working with UNESCO and partner schools and colleges, Learn ON has delivered an online distance education system to support around 50 000 students and their teachers.

The programme is continuing for the rest of 2020 with more than 100 online Train the Trainer (TTT) courses, involving 1 500 teachers, and the opening of over 130 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) covering advanced technological fields such as AI, Big Data, 5G and IoT, funded by a EUR 4.6 million Huawei ICT Academy Development Incentive Fund (ADIF).

About Huawei

Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains – telecom networks, IT, smart devices, and cloud services – Huawei is committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world.

At Huawei, innovation focuses on customer needs. Huawei invests heavily in basic research, concentrating on technological breakthroughs that drive the world forward. Huawei has over 194 000 employees and operates in over 170 countries and regions. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.

In Europe, Huawei currently employs over 13 000 employees and runs two regional offices and 23 R&D sites. So far, Huawei has established 230 technical cooperation projects and has partnered with over 150 universities across Europe.