Huawei Ireland awards €250,000 in scholarships between 50 Irish STEM students

2022 Ireland Seeds Scholarship awardees

02 Dec 2022: 

Huawei Ireland today awarded €250,000 in academic scholarships to 50 third-level STEM students through its 2022 ‘Seeds for the Future’ ICT talent-nurturing initiative.

One of the largest scholarship programmes for STEM students in Ireland, €5,000 bursaries were awarded to 50 students, of which 40% were female, from DCU, UCD, NUIG, UCC, Trinity College Dublin, TU Dublin, UL, Munster Technological University, Atlantic Technological University Galway, South-East Technological University and Maynooth University.

The successful students were selected based on their performance during this year’s initiative which took place online in October. Now in its eighth year, the 2022 Seeds for the Future programme was Huawei’s most successful yet, receiving almost 500 applications. In total, there are 88 graduates of which 31 are female students.

A global Huawei initiative, Seeds for the Future aims to develop skilled, local ICT talent and bridge communication between countries and cultures. Participating students from Ireland engaged in lessons on subjects from AI to cloud computing, as well as visiting Huawei’s campuses online and taking part in a number of related cultural experiences. During the ‘Tech4Good’ project element to the programme, which was launched last year, students sought to determine how technology could be used to tackle key social issues. A team from Ireland won the ‘Best Team’ award for developing a project to design an app which will allow wheelchair users to independently board trains.

Speaking at the awards ceremony held at The Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, Dublin, Luke McDonnell, Senior Corporate Communications Manager, Huawei Ireland said: “Over the past number of years, we have seen a seismic shift to the online world, particularly during the pandemic, and with it the growing need to ensure society and our enterprise economy are equipped with the skills to navigate the digital landscape. It is very welcome that industry leaders, such as Huawei, are supporting and complementing initiatives to build these critical skills and to encourage our STEM students to think how their knowledge can benefit our future. Today’s awardees have displayed an abundance of technical skill and excellence, showcasing the talent and potential in Ireland which should give us all great confidence about the years to come. I would like to congratulate to all of the successful students – because the future of Ireland’s ICT industry looks very bright.”

Commenting on the awardees, Tony Yangxu, CEO, Huawei Ireland, said: “Yet again, the standard of application for this programme was outstanding and representative of the high-quality ICT professionals which Ireland’s universities are helping to produce. Huawei is committed to investing in Ireland’s ICT future, including its future talent and I am delighted to award each of these 50 students with a €5,000 scholarship to help them continue to develop their skills and knowledge”.

According to Huawei's recent Economic and Social Impact Report, released jointly with Amárach Research, the company has contributed €500 million annually to Ireland’s economy over the past three years. Moreover, Huawei currently employs 510 directly, with indirect and induced jobs amounting to 5,700.