Huawei has launched the Huawei Spark global accelerator programme, centralised in Singapore, intended to incubate and accelerate startup growth and build an ecosystem for deep tech startups in the Asia-Pacific region.
Organised by Huawei Cloud in partnership with Enterprise Singapore and Startup SG, Huawei Spark will be kicked off in Singapore as a startup competition.
Huawei said it “will invest millions of dollars to support deep tech startups,” and will focus on the firms with the use of 5G, AI/Machine Learning & Analytics, IoT, Mobile Edge Computing, and Mobile & SaaS Applications.
Startups that are accepted into the Huawei Spark program will receive free cloud resources from Huawei, including hardware support including AI modules and AI-based intelligent industry solutions, along with open-source software support such as AI framework, database and OS to develop their own applications, services and hardware appliances.
Subject to a startup’s maturity, Huawei will offer multi-tier support from seed stage to late stage, including financial support in terms of cloud credits of up to US$125,000, AI development fund up to US$100,000, technical and training as well as go-to-market support.
“We fully believe that startups could grow faster and healthier with proper mentoring and support through the Huawei Spark program, and create more job opportunities to support the recovery of economies, not just regionally, but also globally,” said Leo Jiang, chief digital officer of Huawei Cloud & AI Business Group, Asia Pacific.
Huawei has received more than 200 applications from Singapore startups since applications opened on 10 August. To participate in the Huawei Spark 2020 startup competition, startups can submit their proposals until 4 October.
“In Singapore, we will continue to support and enable our partners as well as invest in talent cultivation and joint solution innovation through programmes like Huawei Spark and the AI Lab,” said Andy Wei, managing director of Singapore Huawei Cloud. “By leveraging our collaborative Connectivity + Computing + Cloud synergy, we are able to provide an intelligent, automated, information-driven platform for partners’ content, applications, and algorithms.”
