ASEAN invites students for Data Science Explorers 2019 competition

Source:  ASEAN Secretariat

ASEAN invites students for Data Science Explorers 2019 competition

SINGAPORE, 25 February 2019 — The ASEAN Foundation and SAP are inviting tertiary students from across the region to participate in the ASEAN Data Science Explorers (ASEANDSE) 2019 competition, aiming to harness the power of data to help solve the most pressing developmental issues in the region.

The competition will be carried out from February to October 2019, kick-starting with informative enablement sessions organised for students and lecturers in local institutions of higher learning across all ten ASEAN Member States to improve their data analytics’ skills and knowledge. The enablement sessions will be followed by national and regional data analytics competition where successful youth applicants will converge to present data-driven proposals which highlight issues in ASEAN across six United Nation Sustainable Development Goals. (The six SDG goals are SDG 3 – good health and well-being, SDG 4 – quality education, SDG 5 – gender equality, SDG 8 – decent work and economic growth, SDG 9 – industry, innovation and infrastructure and SDG 11 – 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 to register for the competition and submit their proposals. 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 ten 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, government agencies, and selected NGOs.

Coinciding with Thailand’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2019, this year’s regional finals will be held in Bangkok on 16 October 2019. The call for applications of the ASEANDSE 2019 will close on 17 May 2019.

The ASEANDSE is a flagship programme under the collaboration of ASEAN Foundation and SAP. It aims to galvanise youth activism among students in ASEAN by increasing their information and communication technology competencies and 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. 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 ten ASEAN Leaders, Senior Officials Meeting on Youth (SOMY), and Senior Officials Meeting on Education (SOMED) for its contribution to youth development.

For further information about the ASEAN Data Science Explorers, please visit www.aseandse.org or email aseandse@sap.com.