[Hannover, Germany, June 15, 2018] Huawei, along with the representative of Huawei ICT Academy Advisory Board, officially launched Huawei ICT Competition 2018-2019 at the CEBIT 2018 in Hannover, Germany. The preliminary round will be held in more than 50 countries worldwide, with an expected number of approximately 80,000 contestants from more than 1,000 colleges and universities. The competition will be conducted in two fields: network (IP) and cloud (IT). With the slogan of "Connection•Glory•Future", the event aims to provide a platform for global ICT talent to compete and communicate, promote high-quality ICT talent development, and drives the growth of a robust and sustainable ICT talent ecosystem.

Huawei ICT Competition invites talented ICT students from around the world to test their capabilities and exchange with each other. The competition is oriented to Huawei Authorized Information and Network Academy (also known as Huawei ICT Academy), as well as colleges and universities that have disciplines in related fields. Since the first Huawei ICT Competition in 2015, the number of participants has increased exponentially. Huawei ICT Competition 2017-2018, which drew to a successful close on May 16, attracted more than 40,000 students from over 800 colleges and universities in 32 countries, making it one of the largest competitions and platforms in the ICT sector. The upcoming Huawei ICT Competition 2018-2019 will be carried out in several rounds: preliminary, national final, regional final, and global final. During the event, a wide variety of activities such as roadshows, training, and lectures will be organized. The wider coverage, optimized rules, and more strict candidate selection criteria of the competition will ensure that it can drive the development of high-quality ICT talent, select qualified talent for the industry, continuously provide future driving forces and active participants for digital transformation, promote efficient mapping of talent supply and demand, and further contribute to a sustainable talent ecosystem. 

Suresh Kamadchisundaram, vice president of the UK branch of Huawei ICT Academy Advisory Board, is also the mentor of the UK-Spain team that won the second prize in the Global Final of Huawei ICT Competition 2017-2018. He commented: "Huawei ICT Competition is a very good platform for students to exchange ICT learning experience and be exposed to the latest ICT knowledge. It also helps colleges and universities better understand enterprises' talent requirements and optimize talent development modes accordingly. We wish to deepen our cooperation with Huawei to jointly solve the shortage of ICT talent, and foster a robust and sustainable ICT talent ecosystem." 

Zha Xinliang, Certification Director of the Training & Certification Dept. of Huawei Enterprise Business Group, said: "We hope to build Huawei ICT Competition as the most influential international event and communication platform in ICT industry and achieve three objectives through the competition: to facilitate the teaching and learning through Connection, to celebrate Glory and achievement, and also importantly, to lead the best talents to the industry, to create our Future. Just as the slogan of Huawei ICT