The ASEAN Foundation and SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) are pleased to announce that three teams from Polytechnic University of the Philippines, University of the Philippines, Diliman, and Ateneo de Manila University have emerged as the winners in ASEAN Data Science Explorers (ASEAN DSE) 2022 National Finals – Philippines.

The three winners were judged based on their ability to design a best all-rounded concept that tackles ASEAN socio-economic issues, driven by data insights. The judging criteria look at the creativity, feasibility, innovation, and the team’s ability to demonstrate the solution’s implementation.

As the first winner, Team Paradocs from Polytechnic University of the Philippines and University of the Philippines, Diliman, will represent Philippines for the Regional Finals of ASEAN DSE 2022 which will take place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on 12 October 2022. Below are the details of the winners:

• [First winner] Team Paradocs comprising Prince Jewel Federe and Kim Carlo Monloy from Polytechnic University of the Philippines and University of the Philippines, Diliman, took first place at the National Finals. Their project focused on making sustainable food through community gardens and vermiculture hubs.
• [Runner-up] Team David and Mark, comprising David Demitri Africa and Mark Kevin Ong Yiu from Ateneo de Manila University, emerged as the runner-up. Their project was designed to find solution in bridging sustainable energy with sustainable finance.
• [Second runner-up] Meanwhile, Team Facts and Stats, comprising Bea Jane Lazona and John Adrian Adona from Polytechnic University of the Philippines became the second runner-up for their project on reducing plastic waste in the ocean by waste management strategy in ASEAN.

In its sixth year, ASEAN DSE continues to empower youth from across the region through virtual enablement sessions and competitions held at the national and regional level. This year’s competition saw 778 students from ten ASEAN countries across the region competing to represent their country in the National Finals. Participants were tasked with developing data analytics storyboards/proposals to address socio-economic issues, promoting ASEAN community awareness and the UN-SDGs within the region. In addition, the programme also collaborated with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and programme alumni in ten ASEAN countries to deliver in-person enablement sessions to youth with limited access to technology and youth with disabilities. The continued support and collaboration with NGOs and programme alumni made it possible for the programme to deliver SAP Analytics Cloud training to 3,619 underserved youths in 2022.

Philippines’s National Finals was also live-streamed on Facebook, attracting more than 700 viewers.

“The ASEAN DSE programme seeks to empower our ASEAN youths with essential digital skills, develop collaboration skills, ability to communicate ideas, and to think critically. All of which are vital to become effective leaders for tomorrow’s world. I am highly impressed by the quality of ideas presented by the participants and hope that this competition will jumpstart their data science journey. Through our partnership with the ASEAN Foundation, we aim to continue enabling youths to thrive in this ever-changing world and inspire them to forge a brighter, more equitable future for all in ASEAN,” said Mr. Rudy Abrahams, Interim Managing Director of SAP Philippines.

“Through ASEAN DSE, we continue to strengthen our mission to provide an immersive platform for ASEAN youth to learn future-ready skills and contribute to the growth of digital economy in the region post-pandemic. I am very impressed with the innovative ideas that the participants presented today, which demonstrates what our youth can do when provided with the right platform to create impactful solutions. I would also like to convey our deepest appreciation to SAP for the continued support in empowering youth across ASEAN. I sincerely hope that the collaboration between ASEAN Foundation and SAP can inspire more public-private partnerships in the future to support the development of our future generation,” added Dr. Yang Mee Eng, ASEAN Foundation’s Executive Director.

“Understanding the world through numbers is a beautiful thing to do. And to think that we’ll get to voice the youth of today and represent our country through that is a big honor. Doing the competition taught us a lot of things about ourselves. It made us realize what we want to do for the rest of my life. And we know the learning process is not over, and that fact excites us even further! But hey, there are more problems in the world than food wastage. We do hope more students get to peek on the data and make an attempt to think of creative ways that only young minds could do to solve those problems. That’s the goal, right? To make a better world for the next youth of today?” said Team Paradocs.