Meet South Africa’s first batch of Samsung Innovation Campus
Students and NGO partners work together to build solutions using STEM
Empowering new generations year by year
Young people are the leaders of the future. While the future is full of uncertainties, education is the foundation that allows youth to realize their full potential and prepare themselves to keep moving forward. Being aware of the great importance of education, Samsung has been equipping the young students around the world with future-proof skills and knowledge through Samsung Innovation Campus.
In 2022, Walter Sisulu University of South Africa and Samsung together launched Samsung Innovation Campus with means to boost the nation’s youth employment in the technology sector. In 2023, the students successfully graduated from the program, becoming the first from South Africa to join the global family of Samsung Innovation Campus.
Since the opening of the program, around 20 students from the Faculty of Science, Engineering, and Technology of Walter Sisulu University received technology education focused on critical skills needed for the fourth industrial revolution. The students learned the basics to the advanced fundamentals of coding and programming, as well as artificial intelligence and the internet of things.
After a year of intense training and studying, these students have fully trained themselves to be fluent in the language of technology. What is more important is that they are now feeling more confident than ever as proud Samsung Innovation Campus alumni seeking careers in the world of technology.
One of the lead faculty of the University said, “Samsung Innovation Campus at Walter Sisulu University is one of its kind in South Africa. This flagship partnership with Samsung will contribute to the national imperative of creating work-ready employable students.”
“We are empowering the generation of problem-solvers by equipping them with future-proof skills and giving them practical understanding of the technologies that will shape their future and enrich sustainable growth of the world,” said Hlubi Shivanda, Business Operations and Innovation and Corporate Affairs Director at Samsung South Africa.
More success is to come through the collaborative efforts between the University and Samsung. Learning from the cases of the first batch of Samsung Innovation Campus, more students of South Africa should be able to expand their horizons of study. The students will fulfill their educational needs through the program, and become the core talent of the country’s technology sector. They will be the tech leaders who contribute to fortifying the industry in the region, realizing a meaningful change in their country.
Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, an educational program that empowers students to find solutions for their communities with STEM knowledge, was held for the third time in Taiwan. Continuing the theme of ‘social and environmental sustainability’, Solve for Tomorrow brought together young students from all over the nation.
After a six-month process from brainstorming and building ideas, and training to creating actual prototypes of the imagined concept, eight outstanding teams were selected to present their ideas in the final competition. The shortlisted teams received educational and functional support from Samsung’s NGO partners and experts to optimize their proposals. Let’s see what their experience was like.
For the 16 teams that entered the semi-final round, Samsung provided an online course, Design Thinking Workshop, and 1-on-1 mentoring by NGO partners on a weekly basis. Boss Huang, a student from team Save the Earth, said, “I have participated in many competitions, but this was the first that provided a private mentoring course.”
Yun-Ting Chiu, a student from team Good Kids League, noted that the mentor-mentee sessions were extremely helpful. “At first, we thought that the course would only teach us technology-related knowledge such as how to build a robot,” Chiu said and continued, “But Samsung provides so much more, like interpersonal skills and tips to present better - which surpasses our expectation.”
Samsung Solve for Tomorrow provides a learning experience for not only students but also facilitators. Wei-Chung Lin, one of the teachers of the participating teams, said, “Students are not the only ones that learned from the project. Teachers and facilitators like myself have also learned a lot. The program stimulated me to think differently.”
Tse-Hua Kuo, a facilitator from the final winner team Pyasan Lahao, said, “Both students and teachers as one team learned a lot, and it is very rewarding to see our students make such great progress. I am happy to have been a part of Solve for Tomorrow where the school could work closely with tech experts to discuss and find solutions for sustainable development of our hometown.”
Since its launch in Argentina in 2021, Samsung Innovation Campus has reached its second edition of the program.
Samsung Innovation Campus seeks to empower young people, especially female students who are less seen in the field of STEM, through training in technological skills and providing the opportunity to broaden their employment prospects.
The goal of Samsung Innovation Campus is to support the next generation to realize their full potential and drive positive social changes.
Fifty Argentine students participated in Samsung Innovation Campus, with hopes to become the next leaders of STEM in Argentina and the wider region. Consisting of various classes and workshops, Samsung Innovation Campus provided over 250 hours of training. The students were offered courses in key technological fields like robotics, programming, and coding. Following the solid curriculum and through interactive classes with their professors and peers, the students could quickly grasp how to use and program with Scratch, Arduino, Rurple HTML, CSS, Python, Java, and more.
One of the graduates, Francisco Zabala, said, “I already knew that Samsung Electronics is a powerhouse of today’s world. The company is changing the world day by day through innovation – which is what the company seeks and achieves. I am grateful to have such a company support the young generation of Argentina including myself with the quality education we have longed for.”
2022 was a special year for Samsung Innovation Campus in Argentina; it was the year when the program incorporated a special course focused on the Internet of Things for female students. “To women who want to get into technology, I tell them not to give up and to be more inquisitive, ask questions, and be seen,” says María Jose Aguila González, a SIC participant. “You can always find help and you are not alone!”
In line with María’s expectations for women’s inclusion in the tech sector, Samsung Innovation Campus has provided the environment for female students to grow their potential. Such efforts of Samsung Innovation Campus to provide sustainable education for the youth have been well acknowledged, and the program was awarded Argentina’s Eikon Awards in the Sustainability Education category.
At Samsung, we seek to encourage young people and women to reach their full potential and become the next generation of innovators. Education is the building block to a more inclusive and sustainable future. We hope that Samsung Innovation Campus continues to empower the new generations by equipping them with skills of tomorrow.
