Huawei Technologies is willing to work with global partners for its TECH4ALL initiative to boost digital inclusion in education and environmental protection, Kevin Zhang, chief marketing officer of Huawei ICT Infrastructure, said at the Huawei CONNECT 2020 event on Thursday.
Numerous officials such as Zhang Xinsheng, president for the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Stefania Giannini, education assistant director-general for UNESCO, spoke at the summit.
But the Chinese firm also launched its Learn Anytime Education Alliance with over 100 partners in education to provide access to online learning platforms for over 50m students amid the pandemic, the company revealed.
Huawei, a core member of UNESCO's Global Education Coalition, partnered with Sengal's Ministry of National Education and local carrier Sonatel to provide support in the COVID-19 crisis, among other such programmes.
"UNESCO is working with Huawei to build an Open School System based on technology that will provide an inclusive, equitable, and crisis-resilient education platform in Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, and other countries," Giannini said in her speech.
Huawei's DigiTruck initiative was launched in October 2019 in Kenya, converting shipping containers and buses into mobile classrooms, reaching over 1,500 students and teachers in remote regions.
Further programmes aimed to tackle concerns over numerous challenges for nature conservation worsened by the crisis, including monitoring endangered species and others, it was found.
“If properly and smartly used, technology can become an important tool for responding to environmental crises and achieve sustainable development," Zhang Xinsheng told the audience.
Integrating multiple technologies, including drones, telecommunications and satellites, China's Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park built a natural resource system to monitor the park's biodiversity and species count as well as human interactions for conservationists to analyse data remotely.
— Huawei (@Huawei) September 24, 2020
The Rainforest Connection (RFCx) also used Huawei technologies along with second-hand phones to build 'Guardians' or solar-powered mobiles to detect illegal logging in countries such as Costa Rica and the Philippines, reaching over 14 countries and 3,300 square kilometres of rainforest land.
The Shenzhen-based company plans to work with the IUCN on its Tech4Nature programme by applying digital technologies to conserve forest and marine ecosystems in over 300 protected regions globally.
The news comes after company rotating chairman, Guo Ping, said in a speech on Wednesday that Huawei would work further with partners via five key tech domains to boost businesses and governments facing the pandemic.
The Chinese tech giant also announced in September an alliance with 12 key tech firms to collaborate via its Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) platform amid the firm's push for self-sufficient technologies amid the US-China trade war.
The developments come as the Trump administration placed Huawei, ZTE and over 70 Chinese firms on an Entity List in May last year, requiring licences to do business with multiple US chipmakers and major software firms.
