Alibaba Cloud has launched $1 billion Project for Startups APAC

 

Alibaba Cloud has launched Project AsiaForward with a funding of $1 billion that will help the talented developers and growth of technology startups in Asia Pacific (APAC). The announcement was made at Alibaba Cloud Summit 2021.

“Our strategic roadmap for APAC includes targeted investments to facilitate the digital transformation of local businesses. We see these investments as all the more timely given the impact of the pandemic and the sharp rise in demand for digital business tools. Equally important is our focus on talent development and nurturing a digitally-competent workforce, which we see as a key challenge for many businesses to overcome going forward,” said Selina Yuan, General Manager of International Business Unit, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.

The Project AsiaForward’s three core programs are called DigiTalents Forward, AI Forward, and DigiEntrepreneurs Forward. The company kicked off the DIgitTalents Forward programme in Singapore with the School of Computer Science and Engineering (SCSE), and NTU-Alibaba Singapore Joint Research Institute (JRI) at Nanyang Technological University.

In other announcements at Alibaba Cloud Summit 2021, the company has launched its first data center in the Philippines towards the end of the year. This will help support digitalization of local businesses through a variety of products and services including Elastic Compute Service (ECS), database, global network solution, Content Delivery Network (CDN) and storage services. Also, the company will build its first innovation center in Malaysia. Alibaba Group also unveiled a new one-stop e-commerce livestreaming solution to help global merchants of all sizes launch live, interactive channels to offer personalized online shopping experience.