IBM Launches AP Education Summit in Shanghai to Address Skills Shortfall
Media Release
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Asia Pacific in Shanghai
IBM Launches AP Education Summit in Shanghai to address Skills Shortfall
With the US, Europe, Japan, China and India facing a shortfall of 32 million technically specialized professionals between 2010 to 2020*, the need to focus on educating today’s youth with the skills required in a globally connected innovation economy has never been more important.
With a sense of urgency that this statistics highlights, more than 50 of Asia’s leading educators are gathered in Shanghai for the inaugural IBM (NYSE:IBM) Asia Pacific Reinventing Education Summit. The two-day Summit will address the challenges facing educators across Asia Pacific, offer delegates the opportunity to share experiences and the opportunity to hear from leading thinkers on the future of education.
Speakers include Prof. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, of Harvard University, Yong Zhao the Executive Director for the US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence, Mr.Tom Bentley, Founding Director of the United Kingdom’s Demos Think Tank and Mr. Stanley Litow, Vice President, Corporate Community Relations and Corporate Affairs and President of the IBM Foundation.
According to Mr. Litow of IBM, the education imperative for countries around Asia Pacific is even greater with the emergence of the globally connected “Innovation Economy.”
“The innovation economy is generating entirely new requirements for talent and leadership so every country must respond and improve their education system to deliver students equipped with skills for the 21st century,” Mr. Litow said.
The summit aims to devise a collaborative response to this challenge and leverage new technologies to find the best way forward for each country.
“Schools are a vital training ground for innovation and we need to transform our education systems to prepare students to be innovators throughout their lives,” Mr.Litow added.
Delegates attending the Summit are drawn from 12 different countries and include leaders of government departments, education associations, universities and think tanks as well as school principals, university deans and education academics.
IBM, launched the Summit as one more initiative in its range of education programs. IBM invests around $100 million annually worldwide in education programs (see fact sheet for more details of these programs).
As part of the Summit delegates will be able to join local school children between the ages of 11 and 14 who will gather for The Science and Future of Gaming event, a recent addition to IBM’s volunteer “On Demand Community” program which encourages IBM employees to work with local school communities to help teach, inspire and support students.” The Science and Future of Gaming event focuses on demonstrating to children how they can have an exciting and varied career in science and technology – careers vital for the Innovation Economy.
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For further information on IBM visit: and for IBM’s community relations programs visit: ibm.com/ibm/ibmgives.
* Watson Wyatt, Monster.com; U.S. Department of Labor; Bureau of Labor Statistics; Information Technology Association of America.
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Contact:
Amanda Garland
Director, Media Relations IBM Asia Pacific
Lu Xue Ying (Lynda)
Communications Specialist, IBM China Shanghai Branch
Fact Sheet
IBM Education Initiatives
IBM’s Education Initiatives include:
Reinventing Education is IBM’s flagship education program working in partnership with government and school systems around the world to develop and implement innovative technology solutions to solve some of our toughest education problems. IBM has established Reinventing Education partnerships in six countries in Asia Pacifc, Australia, China, India, Japan, Singapore and Vietnam. To date over 10,000 teachers have been trained through Reinventing Education benefiting over 500,000 students.
Kidsmart Early Learning () provides technology to disadvantaged preschools to improve the early learning experience. By the end of 2006 IBM had donated 9,141 Young Explorer units to preschools around Asia Pacific and provided training to 20,0000 teachers on integrating Kidsmart technology in the classroom benefiting 600,000 disadvantaged backgrounds.
MentorPlace, () involves thousands of IBM volunteers in Asia Pacific region providing students with online academic assistance and career counselling. To date in Asia Pacific, 1464 students have connected with 1139 IBM mentors in MentorPlace.
IBM’s EXITE (Exploring Interests in Technology and Engineering) Camps inspire teenage girls across the region to make a difference in the world through mathematics, engineering, science and technology. In 2006, 15 camps were held in 10 Asia Pacific countries with more than 300 girls participating.
Try Science enables young people to put their sense of curiosity and wonder to work to explore all kinds of phenomena through a scientific lens. The site is visited by 6,000 Asia Pacific students every month.
On Demand Community provides employees and retirees across 67 countries with access to over 150 tools utilizing IBM technology, resources and training designed for volunteer efforts in public education and not-for-profit organizations. IBM makes annual cash grants of $US1,000 or $US3,500 technology credit to organizations where IBM employees volunteer. In Asia Pacific 20% of IBM employees are registered on On Demand Community and have logged over 343,000 hours of volunteer service in our communities.
Reading Companion, IBM’s new web-based literacy program will be launched in four countries in Asia Pacific in 2006 – Australia, India, Korea and Singapore.