Asia as a continent is growing exponentially in terms of active entrepreneurship and startup investment portfolio's are reaching an all-time high. Techsauce takes a look at what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has to say on the potential that lies in emerging markets.

Microsoft has always made a huge effort in Asia to empower every person and every organization to push forward and achieve more by providing internal tools to and technology access that is helping young startups build a better future across Asia.

Satya recently traveled across six countries across Asia and met with entrepreneurs, startups, Microsoft customers and employees and business developers to gain an understanding of what is going on in the region.

Thailand

While in Thailand Microsofts new CEO came across some of the best innovation in terms of established startups and from student teams at the 'Imagine Cup Thailand' who displayed their creative/ winning apps.

In Thailand, Microsoft has implemented an app called DB8 which teaches students English using Microsoft's speech recognition and natural language APIs which has been a huge success within the startup tech community as a means of understanding software programs etc.

Microsoft’s commitment to supporting and empowering the local developer community was reaffirmed by Satya as he visited Thailand.

Satya opened the Technology for Good event, coinciding with the announcement on Thailand being one of the countries benefiting from the Public Cloud for Public Good initiative – a donation of US$1 billion in Microsoft cloud services to more than 70,000 non-profits and university researchers worldwide over the next three years.

More than 50 of Thailand's leading NGOs were at the event to mingle, network and share ideas concerning how technology has been a key enabler for students and teachers in promoting lifelong learning in all sectors including rural areas which has been a challenging area to move forward in Thailand.

Japan

Microsoft is celebrating their 30th anniversary of being integrated in Japan. It is now their second-largest subsidiary in the world with 2,400 employees that continue to contribute to Japanese businesses, society and education.

Satya visited Hiroo Junior High School, the first school in Japan to participate in the Minecraft: Education Edition beta program. Satya joined students in the school’s programming class, where they demonstrated how they utilize Minecraft’s open world to explore and learn as part of their curriculum.

While in Japan there was a demo of Microsoft's AI chatbot 'Rinna' which has generated over 3.4 million conversations with people globally on Twitter and Line.

Indonesia

While in Jakarta, Microsoft's CEO was reiterating the successful development of the investment in programs that empower the local community, especially the up and coming Indonesian entrepreneurs. Microsoft highlighted the partnership with local NGO, Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa (YCAB) Foundation for Indonesia M-Powered, a job and resources platform for underserved youth that equips them with skills to compete effectively in the 21st-century workforce.

The crucial areas of developments that Microsoft is focusing on are improving the quality of education in the computer science education sector. The partnership between Microsoft and the Muhammadiyah organization is to showcase and implement transformational education with technology.

Satya shared how our Affordable Access Initiative grant will enable local start-up Kelase to scale its business in delivering educational content and solutions that can be accessed in low bandwidth or even offline scenarios across the country.

Singapore

While in Singapore, Satya met with startups, students, and entrepreneurs to discuss their products. Among these young innovators was the Imagine Cup Singapore 2016 winners Team Vuuy’s social robot Ruth, a personal assistant for the elderly, who even got her own personal meet-and-greet with Satya.

Microsoft “cares deeply about how we create platforms that can empower, enable and inspire developers to chase after their dreams” was a key message from Satya at Microsoft Developer Day Singapore. The event was attended by more than 1,700 students and developers and streamed live to over 3,000 others. Satya outlined the role that local developers play in helping organizations embrace digital transformation, and cited Astoria Solutions, Overdrive and JTC as examples of local companies harnessing the power of an intelligent cloud to build a better, more efficient, smarter and sustainable future.

This is reinstating the successful integration and intention of Microsoft's commitment to the local community. Microsoft's commitment to educating and developing IT and Non - IT students allows for students from a cross-section of disciplines to create solutions that will be the first university in Asia to adopt Microsoft’s data science curriculum and will be able to leverage these assets to train and develop talents and capabilities in data analytics and data science.

India: 

While in India Satya observed the transformation of the technology industry and fostering a culture of innovation which is really solving real-world problems and driving India's transformation.

Some 400 young innovators, developers, and entrepreneurs watched Satya in person and another 5,000 more caught him via live streaming.

He was inspired by young developers and their innovations that are changing the landscape of India, and the world – highlighting Spot Garbage – tech for a cleaner India and Lifesaver – tech for a healthier India as local examples.

During his visit, Satya also spoke at a fireside chat with nearly 100 Indian CEOs from across the country. Organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the event focused on the role of technology in enabling long-term competitiveness for businesses and the country.

China: 

As the Chinese market is the most profitable and developed the relationship between this country and Microsoft has been a long-standing partnership.

Microsoft has created recent innovations including the successful Chinese social bot Xiaoice which has attracted over 42 million friends across 11 different social platforms such as WeChat and Weibo, which has already held over 2 billion conversations.

The Imagine Cup China winners behind the BoneyCare stammer training app which helps speech therapist for anyone suffering from stammering issues and makes use of the intelligent cloud and cognitive APIs was supported and created using Microsofts efforts.

Satya discussed Microsoft’s mission and culture, particularly our “growth mindset” as a key attribute that we strive for. In the spirit of striving for their dreams, Satya also encouraged the students in attendance to chase their passions by citing a poem by Li Bai, a Chinese poet from the Tang dynasty: “Never tip your golden cup to the moon empty. Seize the day, follow your heart”.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/satya-nadella-3145136/

For more information on Satya Nadella and his work for Microsoft click the link below:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/satya-nadella-3145136/