Microsoft and III Collectively launch the First Data Scientist Certificate and Cultivation Program in Greater China, expecting starting in late May 2017
Date: 2017/05/03
III works with Microsoft to activate the first data scientist cultivation and certification project in Greater China Area on May 3rd. Invited guests took a photo at the ceremony. From the left: Microsoft Data Science Director in Greater China Area Dr. Graham Williams, III Digital Education Institute President Dr. Jinn-Bao Lee, Microsoft Greater China Area Vice President and Marketing & Operating General Manager Roan Kang, Microsoft Taiwan Operating and Marketing General Manager Naoyuki Isogai, and Microsoft Greater China Area Education and Training & Certification Director Chun-Chih, Chen.
On May 3rd, III Digital Education Institute President Jinn-Bao Lee indicated that in accordance to the prosperous future of data science and the strong demand for data science talents from the industry, III works with Microsoft to introduce global standard resources to Taiwan. By providing a series of online courses as well as certification mechanisms, III expects to cultivate technology professionals who are capable of utilizing data to provide insights so as to create revenue for their companies.
The average salary of data scientists is 113% more than that of the other positions. Harvard Business Review acclaims data scientists "The Sexiest Job of the 21st century". Among top 100 business leaders in Taiwan, 76 percent of them confirm identically that insight from critical data can boost business turnover. Microsoft Professional Programs cover high-end technology topics from cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence, etc.
The applications of big data technologies have become popular among various industries. Related items include the most popular focuses in recent years such as artificial intelligence, autonomous cars, robotics, etc. A market situation like this also sets the glowing stages for data scientists to demonstrate their skills, who are now the most desirable in the human resource markets. The Institute for Information Industry (III), a state-backed research organization based in Taipei City, announced on May 3rd that it is working with Microsoft Corp. to launch the first certificated program in Greater China Area for data scientist cultivation. The program combines with the online courses of Microsoft Professional Program (MPP), which cover a variety of topics including cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence. The program requires about 250 hour training along with a capability certification mechanism so as to cultivate the talents with equivalent necessary skills mastered by data scientists. III will also become one of the certificated training centers of Microsoft in greater China area which are able to utilize and promote the online training courses and certificated programs.
More 75% Business Leaders Recognize Intelligent Insight Derived from Solid Data Boosts Turnover and Expands Fields of Income.
The coming of big data era drives the need for data scientists on the application side. Facing increasingly complex and growing data, market participants must find out a more efficient way to get rid of impotent data and to further extract valuable information. Data scientists, the emerging desirable vocation, who are able to dig out an astounding numbers of business opportunities hidden behind the big data from various fields such as stock market analysis, threat anticipation in information security domain, consumer behavior research in electronic commerce field, and even the attack and defense routes anticipation or strategy analysis for athletes in professional sport teams. According to the investigation report from McKinsey, half of the management supervisors around the world consider that it is hard to find data analysis talents for their companies. For the reason, the limited professional data scientists have become the most precious human resources in the global job market.
In 2016, Microsoft conducted "Asia Digital Transformation Study", which investigated 1,494 participants who are business leaders in charge of digital strategies of their companies ( 105 of them are from Taiwan Top 100 businesses). The investigation covered a wide variety of industries including 5 major industries such as financial industry, retail business, Medicare, manufacturing and education. The study indicated that 76 percent of Taiwanese business leaders agree looking for new trend from correct data could provide continuous revenue for their companies.
Roan Kang, Microsoft Greater China Area Vice President as well as Marketing and Operating General Manager, pointed out that under the digital transformation trend, the development of cloud technologies and big data has brought partners and Microsoft plenty of opportunities. However, as the demand from the industries increases, the problem of lacking talents and technologies also emerges. To solve the problem, Microsoft Professional Program (MPP) comes into being to meet the strong market demand for personnel training. Currently, there is an urgent and desperate need for a large number of data scientists around the globe. Responding to market and industry demand accordingly, Microsoft has already cultivated 600 certificated talents internationally by its data science related courses in MPP. It is a pleasure to work with domestic partner III to introduce for the first time the cultivation and certification program designed for data scientist training into greater China area. Microsoft sincerely hopes to cultivate domestic talents by this cooperation.
Taiwan ranked the 1st place in Open Data Index within 149 evaluated countries around the world. Promoted collectively by the government and non-government organizations, data science gradually became the main developing subject to which major market participants dedicating resources. Also, Taiwan is expected to be the cradle for the development of data science. However, according to the statistic numbers from 104 CORPORATION,, even though there is a huge demand in the field of data science, talent shortage is what most enterprises encounter. It is estimated that until 2018, the number required for data scientist would reach 100,000 but at the moment, there are only 1,092 available. There is a serious imbalance between supply and demand in the human capital market.
As the "Think Tank" for the government in the information and communication domain, III has long dedicated to the promotion of information technology application and the solution to digital gap. With regard to the cooperation project with Microsoft, III Digital Education Institute President Jinn-Bao Lee expressed that owing to the strong demand for talents from the industries as well as the farsightedness of the essence of data science, by working with Microsoft, III expects to introduce international resources to Taiwan. Through the series of courses and certification mechanism established by Open edX, III hopes that the project could cultivate talents who are capable of utilizing data to provide insight so as to crate future revenue for enterprises. In the future, the program is expected to be introduced into colleges. Starting from information education system, III is looking forward to cultivating excellent talents for "Future Superstar Jobs" who are competent at their jobs including data scientists so as to strengthen the soft power of Taiwan.
Dr. Graham Williams, Herald of R Language, Leads the Way through Big Data and Reveals the Secrets to Utilize the Indispensable Tool Applied by Data Scientists.
Harvard Business Review acclaimed data scientists "The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century". Being a data scientist means there is a chance getting jobs across various domains such as finance, retail industry, and education etc. Additionally, according to the survey conducted by Indeed.com, the average salary of data scientists is higher than that of the other positions by 113%. Why is it that data scientists become the most desirable talents in the human resource market? Microsoft Asian-Pacific Data Science Supervisor Dr. Graham Williams expressed that data scientists could provide their companies with rules and insight hidden within big data for business strategy decision making. Applying a policy making model based on solid data will avoid the mistake derived from misjudgment or one sided information so as to expedite the process of decision making as well as to improve the quality of the final result.
Dr. Graham Williams, acclaimed one of the pioneers of R language, developed Rattle in 2005, a R language written data mining application well known for its simple-to-use graphic interface. Further, in 2015 and 2016, he designed a series of learning materials for data science and published them online as free resources, which are popularly recognized as important tutorials in data science domain. With more than 30 year experience standing at the market front, Dr. Graham Williams gives some suggestions for learners who aim to be scientists. Firstly, equip yourself the advanced capability and skills that a scientist needs to master. Secondly, wisely choose your tools. Rattle and R both are widely used in data science field. The functions of R language for data analysis are complete and powerful. However, it might be hard for a beginner. On the other hand, open resource Rattle, by its graphic interface, could assist data scientists instantly build a machine learning model so that it currently has become the tool especially suitable for beginners and is now broadly applied in the market. Meanwhile, Dr. Graham Williams also encourages learners to use open platform online to absorb related information by themselves to consolidate basic ability in the professional field.
Microsoft and III Collectively Promote Open edX Online Learning Platform to Close the Technology Gap and Cultivate 9 Data Science Critical Abilities
Following the trend and the popularity of cloud learning, providing Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is not the privilege which only belongs universities. The data scientist cultivation and certification project promoted mutually by Microsoft and III is to provide courses on the platform OPEN edX, an open resource platform ranked among top 3 around the world.
Currently, Microsoft has accumulated 149 online courses as well as 1,250,000 registered students. Through hard work, III becomes the first Microsoft authorized education center in greater China area to promote online learning project called "Microsoft Professional Program (MPP)". Microsoft expects to transform the concept "Learning as a service" into concrete training plan by working closely with III in the data scientist cultivation project. Further, Microsoft is looking forward to creating added value for III as well as more domestic partners by applying these online teaching materials.
The content of the cultivation project in Taiwan regarding data science is designed by Microsoft according to its investigation into the core competences of the positions in the industry. The series of courses include 9 major learning subjects and 1 project. Topics of the courses cover cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence. The accumulated number of training hours reaches 250 hours. Those who finish the project could not only master the core skills of data scientists but also could gain the data science certification from Microsoft Professional Program (MPP). The 9 learning subjects in the cultivation project could be categorized into 3 major stages including basic courses, data science cores, and applied data science. After gradually finishing all the courses, there is one final project to be completed. One could only get the certification after stringent review.
Microsoft Works with Domestic Partners Bringing Global Resources to Taiwan
Microsoft continues to work with partners in Taiwan to cultivate domestic talents and help them to catch up with the latest trend in the market. Facing the opportunities and jobs brought by digital transformation, Microsoft and III hope to promote online learning by the collaboration so as to close the gap between industry demand and talent supply. While facing global digital transformation, the two organizations will assist domestic technology workers equip with professional skills so that they are able to find the suitable positions to contribute their talent. Moreover, Microsoft also expects to provide innovative digital value added business opportunities for local partners by developing the goal "Learning as a service" into solid action plans.
【Media Contact】
DEI, III: Alex N.T. Wu
Tel: (886) 2 6631-6551,
Planning & Evaluation Division, III: Meredith Chang, Joy Yen, Freesia Shen
Tel: (886) 2 6631-8638, (886) 2 6631-8640, (886) 2 6631-8643