ASEAN Data Science Explorers 2019 Applications are Now Open

The ASEAN Foundation and SAP are now accepting applications for the ASEAN Data Science Explorers (ASEANDSE) 2019, targeted at college students across all 10 ASEAN member states to harness the power of data to help solve the most pressing developmental issues in the region.

The ASEANDSE is a flagship program from the collaboration between the ASEAN Foundation and SAP that aims to promote 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. The initiative seeks to combine 2 key activities, which are a series of enablement sessions and a data analytics competition, to achieve its objective. Since its introduction in 2017, the ASEANDSE has empowered over 5,000 youths from 287 higher education institutions in the region and has been recognized by 10 ASEAN leaders, Senior Officials Meeting on Youth (SOMY), and Senior Officials Meeting on Education (SOMED) for its contribution to youth development.

 

The competition will be carried out from February to October 2019, kickstarting with informative enablement sessions organized for students and lecturers in local institutions of higher learning across all 10 ASEAN member states to improve their data analytics’ skills and knowledge. The enablement sessions will be followed by a national and regional data analytics competition where the successful applicants will present their data-driven proposals which highlight issues in ASEAN across 6 United Nation Sustainable Development Goals; good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth,  industry, innovation and infrastructure and sustainable cities and communities utilizing SAP’s Analytics Cloud software.

In order to take part in the competition, students must be of ages 16+ and must 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. The 10 national finalists will then be given the opportunity to present their winning ideas to a panel of judges which consists of distinguished representatives from the ASEAN Foundation, SAP and various government officials and selected NGO organizations.

This year’s regional finals will be held in Bangkok on October 16, 2019. The submission of applications will close on May 10, 2019.

 

For further information about the ASEAN Data Science Explorers, you can visit their official website or email them at [email protected].