Huawei Opens New Training Centre in Birmingham – Investing in Engineering Talent

New Birmingham-based Training Centre will promote greater collaboration between businesses and tech colleges to create a promising future for ICT engineering talent and ensure the UK has the skills required to fully capitalise on its 5G future

• Huawei opens new training centre in Birmingham to bridge gap in 5G ICT engineering skills in the UK
• So far over 150 engineers have graduated from the new centre, giving them the essential skills necessary to ensure Britain’s 5G infrastructure is best in class
• Opening ceremony attended by Birmingham City Council Leader Ian Ward and Huawei UK Non- Executive Director Sir Andrew Cahn
• Huawei’s 5G Experiential hub showcasing future consumer applications for the technology across gaming, VR and 360 degree live streaming in central Birmingham

Birmingham, 20th September 2019: Huawei, the leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, today unveils its “5G Birmingham Training  Centre,” the company’s first facility in Birmingham designed to enhance collaboration between local businesses and the education community and ensure relevant 5G training is in place to meet current and future ICT needs.

The New Huawei Birmingham Training Centre

The new centre is 2,800 square feet and located at TriGate, Hagley Road West, Birmingham, B68 0NP. The office has the capacity to train 20 people at a time, with courses being tailored to meet training requirements. A typical course will last five days and will cover an introduction to 5G technology, principles of modern network engineering and hands-on practical installation of 5G network equipment. Once fully operational, the objective is for the centre to train upwards of 1,000 network engineers per year on the latest 5G technology.

Huawei today celebrated the launch of the centre with a ceremony in the Banqueting Hall at the Birmingham Council House, which includes a packed agenda covering discussions about the challenges and opportunities for 5G talent in the UK. The event features keynotes from Birmingham Council Leader Ian Ward and Huawei UK Non-Executive Director Sir Andrew Cahn.

Ian Ward, Birmingham City Council Leader said: “5G and next generation technology is already making a big impact in Birmingham, before it has even arrived. Birmingham’s start-up scene is rapidly growing with over 13,000 tech companies now in the West Midlands, worth £5billion to the local economy. 5G talent and knowledge is essential for further growth and Huawei’s 5G training centre has already produced 157 5G-ready engineers since the first graduations took place in June this year.  Long may this continue as it provides us with the 5G talent we need here.”

Elliot Davis, trainee engineer at the Huawei’s 5G Talent Enablement Centre said: “5G will create a highly competitive business environment across multiple industries. There is a recognised skills gap across the UK in ICT engineering, armed with the right skills, newly qualified 5G-ready engineers could find themselves being in high demand over the next few years.”

Sir Andrew Cahn, Huawei UK Non-Executive Director said: “Our new training centre in the heart of Birmingham presents enormous opportunities for the UK, especially at a time when upskilling our talented engineers in 5G technology is vital. Knowledge sharing is in Huawei’s DNA, and we are committed to collaborating with our partners to help build a better connected Britain. This country has an outstanding reputation for nurturing business growth, fostering unique talent and pioneering innovation. We want to play our role in ensuring as with 4G, the UK’s 5G infrastructure is world class”.

Huawei UK CEO Jerry Wang said: “The Midlands is the heartland of UK manufacturing and from here we have gathered the wisdom of customers, industry, academic partners and others to establish the Birmingham training centre as the UK’s base for growing the 5G ecosystem. Huawei believes that working together to foster 5G talent, based on real business needs, will drive economic advantage for the whole of the UK.”

Also on display, was the Huawei 5G Truck, an exhibition in the form of Huawei’s 5G Experiential which is in Birmingham to demonstrate 5G in action. Members of the public can fully experience Virtual Reality galaxies, streaming a live gig in 360° to friends or seeing how future smartphones will morph into tablets. Businesses and professionals will learn how to use cloud computing and VR to make education fully interactive and immersive, productivity significantly increased and farming digitalised.

Huawei in the UK

To accelerate the UK’s 5G journey, Huawei not only provides industry leading ICT products and services but also supports and contributes to the UK’s current and future 5G workforce talent development and skills training. In 2018 Huawei invested £1.3 million in its Digital Skills Programme and in previous years, Huawei has cooperated with UK enterprises and academies to provide technical training for the UK’s current and future workforce, ensuring ICT talents and businesses alike can fully capitalise on the 5G opportunity.

Huawei is committed to building a better-connected world for everyone as an innovation enabler for the future information society by being a responsible and stable partner, and a trusted industry collaborator. Huawei’s operations continue without interruption and the organization is as solid as ever. To date, Huawei has secured globally 50 commercial 5G contracts and has shipped more than 150,000 base stations to markets around the world.

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