Five Ottawa students to take part in tour of, [State Controlled] Huawei's Chinese facilities

May 09, 2016

Six Ottawa engineering students are among a group of 19 young people from across Canada selected to visit China as part of a Huawei’s “Seeds for the Future” program.

Huawei Canada president Sean Yang. 

The third-year university students will leave Thursday for China, where they will spend two weeks learning firsthand about the country’s technology industry.

Sponsored by global information technology giant Huawei, the program aims to build stronger links between Canada and China, promote a greater understanding of career opportunities in the sector and encourage participation in the field of information and communications technology.

Before they jet across the Pacific, the students are spending a couple of days touring Huawei’s Canada Research Centre in Kanata and meeting with the Chinese multinational’s global 5G research team.

It’s the second year for the program, which also gives students a chance to experience Chinese culture through visits to well-known landmarks such as the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City.

“Last year’s program was a resounding success, and we are proud to be hosting a tremendous group of talented engineering students from across the country again this year,” Sean Yang, president of Huawei Canada, said in a statement.

“This program creates an opportunity to connect Canadian engineering talent with the innovative research happening in both Canada and China. We hope this experience will help to strengthen the research ties between both countries and help to build a team of young Canadian engineers able to make a significant impact in the global ICT ecosystem.”

Participants will be given first-hand learning opportunities through meetings with Huawei staff and visits to the firm’s laboratories at its headquarters in the southeastern city of Shenzhen, where they will witness live demonstrations of advanced communications technologies, the company said. In addition, the students will gain an understanding of the latest skills needed to be successful in ICT and how to work effectively in a multicultural business environment.

The five students chosen from local schools are Mate Marinkovic,

 

Travis Morton, and Karl Tanguay-Verreault of Carleton University and the University of Ottawa’s Alexandre Haddad and Joseph Orlando Roque.

Huawei employs more than 170,000 people worldwide, including at least 250 at its Kanata office.