Team Pangolin of Vietnam, comprising Nguyen Van Thuan and Mai Thanh Tung from RMIT University Vietnam, won the third prize in the final round of ASEAN Data Science Explorers (ADSE) competition held in Singapore on October 30.

S. Iswaran, Minister for Communications and Information of Singapore (R), grants the third prize to the Vietnamese students

Their project “Conquering the Waves of Global Trade” addresses the issue of disadvantaged trading due to the disparity in sea transport capacity among ASEAN countries.

“By watching the presentations of other teams, I realize that ASEAN is facing many problems, from social issues like mental health and unemployment to economic and political ones like corruption and entrepreneurship weaknesses,” Nguyen Van Thuan said. “In the context of global digitization, the demand for data analysis workers is very high. I’m happy that I can learn more about data analysis through this competition.”

Team Plan B of Singapore, comprising Tay Kai Jun and Madhumitha Ayyappan from NUS High School of Math and Science, was crowned the ASEAN champion for their project “From Slumming to Sustainability” that aimed to galvanize ASEAN to transform slums into sustainable microcities.

Team Dimicrocambio of the Philippines, comprising Jade Hizon and John Rusty Perena from the Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology, was the runner-up. Their project “Recalibrating educational gears through entrepreneurship education” focused on how entrepreneurship education can empower students to turn their ideas into actions.

ASEAN Data Science Explorer competition was co-organized by cloud-computing company SAP and ASEAN Foundation. This year, in its second edition, the competition coincided with Singapore's ASEAN chairmanship.

The competition reached out to 5,000 youths across 175 institutes of higher learning in ASEAN to increase their digital literacy and cultivate a greater sense of responsibility and ownership of the region's future. They were having trainings in SAP's Analytics Cloud software through a series of webinars and in-country seminars, thereafter using their newly-acquired data skills to tackle six selected United Nation Sustainable Development Goals including good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, and sustainable cities and communities.

"Education is one of the foundational cornerstones of ASEAN's integration and socio-economic development blueprint. To this end, initiatives such as ASEAN Data Science Explorers promote greater cross-border interaction and mobility across the region and equip our youths with critical skills needed to thrive in an increasingly challenging and disruptive future," said Elaine Tan, executive director of the ASEAN Foundation. "We are very encouraged by the creativity and innovation displayed in the entries today, which is a strong testament to the passion of ASEAN youths to aimfully create a better future for their societies."

SGT