ASEAN launches Data Science Explorers Competition

MANILA, Philippines - To mark the historical milestone of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) turning 50, the ASEAN Foundation is working with strategic partners to establish several new initiatives centered around building a sense of ASEAN identity.

The first of these activities is the “ASEAN Data Science Explorers” (ASEAN DSE), a regional competition jointly organized with SAP, market leader in enterprise application software.

Targeting tertiary students across all 10 ASEAN member states from any discipline, the data analytics competition aims to enhance awareness and appreciation of the ASEAN community among ASEAN youth. Titled “Today’s Youth for Tomorrow’s World”, the competition will allow ASEAN youth to play a key role in tackling today’s social issues facing the region and help create positive change for a better future.

With the use of the SAP BusinessObjects Cloud tool, the initiative encourages participants to deliver data-driven insights that highlight issues in ASEAN across six United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, namely: good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth, and sustainable cities and communities.

This will also work toward realizing the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint 2025 vision of creating an ASEAN community that engages and benefits the people, and is inclusive, sustainable, resilient and dynamic.

The competition will be organized in all 10 ASEAN member states in October 2017, with winners of the respective in-country competitions going into a regional final that will take place in Jakarta, Indonesia in November.

Tertiary students in the 10 member states are invited to take part in leading social transformation within the ASEAN bloc by joining the competition. Interested students may register online via www.aseandse.org. The registration portal is open until June 16, 2017.