Acer believes that education is the most valuable investment in the future, as equipping people with knowledge gives them power. Technology, meanwhile, is a powerful tool to help people get quick access to information and deepen their connections to the world. By putting our core competencies to their fullest use, we hope to achieve the following goals:
Technology can bring improvements to quality of life and open up a number of possibilities. Helping everyone enjoy the convenience and opportunities technology brings is one of Acer’s goals, and through cooperation between our global locations and non-profit organizations, we are able to extend the reach of technology to different groups. In recent years, we have also encouraged our staff to get involved in activities and transform their results into products, school supplies, and funds that can help improve education quality in rural and remote areas. In 2021, Acer Group’s social projects around the world made use of Acer’s core competencies and products to support disadvantaged or needy communities. In the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has meant people need the assistance of technology more than ever, widening the inequality gap. Acer remains loyal to its mission of breaking down barriers between people and technology and deeply understands that technology can change people’s lives. For example, in Acer America’s 2021 ESG project, we strived to break down those barriers to assist multiple disadvantaged groups with our core products. For more information, see Acer’s Global ESG Project Awards Highlights .
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of global enterprises as well as accelerating transformational momentum in education. Acer has joined forces with a number of computer brands and Microsoft to jointly launch the first Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Trainer Programs to promote the integration of Microsoft’s global education resources into eight fields in Taiwan’s Master Framework for the 12-year Basic Education Curriculum Guidelines, along with Microsoft classroom tools like Microsoft 365, Minecraft Education Edition, Flipgrid, and more. With the goal of training teachers and educators and implementing the Ministry of Education’s Master Framework, innovative teaching plans have been created and offered across Taiwan’s K-12 education environment, driving the transformation of Taiwanese education.
In 2020, due to the pandemic, various industries have accelerated their digital transformation processes, and traditional teaching limitations have been put to the test, creating a “new normal” in education and making digital transformation a top priority. In view of this, Acer has joined the Chromebook industry chain initiated by Google, which includes a number of computer brands and manufacturers, and announced the launch of the “Taiwan Education Digital Transformation” project, which will see a comprehensive integration of resources in the tech ecosystem. Through this program, we have donated 500 Chromebooks to elementary and high schools in need, as well as creating Chromebook-specific IoT experimental courses and integrating free Chromebook and G Suite training courses for recipients to help schools and teachers effectively use digital tools for teaching and management, laying an important foundation for the digital transformation of education in Taiwan. Students were also invited to interact with teachers in a distance learning session to experience the convenience and effectiveness of integrating technology tools into the classroom.
Chairman and CEO Jason Chen said Acer’s corporate mission is to break the barriers between people and technology and to focus on the needs of the education market on a long-term basis. Faced by the pandemic, work
styles and education patterns are changing, and distance learning is shaping new lifestyles and teaching sites, and Acer is committed to helping digital transformation and bridging the digital gap. As a member of the Chromebook industry chain, Acer works with global partners to help nurture Taiwanese talent. In the future, Acer will continue to develop innovative products and customize computer devices for the education industry.
In 2018, the Acer Foundation launched the Acer Digital Literacy Project, sowing seeds for the future and advocating for the importance of digital literacy. 2020 marked the third year of the project. Building on the workshops and seminars of 2019, and with online learning sweeping the globe in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Acer Foundation produced three online seminars, inviting experts in science, education, and psychological counseling to provide education in three major issues of digital literacy—digital mindset, protecting privacy, and digital interpersonal skills. These seminars aimed to offer parents practical strategies to best guide their children in building positive digital learning habits and becoming good digital citizens.
As for our own staff, we also set up special lectures and workshops to help them better understand the deeper core of the links between education and IT tools while also providing them with opportunities for further self-improvement and growth.
In addition to parents and students, the Acer Foundation also proposes solutions for other education stakeholders to enhance their digital and online learning abilities by offering an online workshop on “Teaching and Applying Digital Literacy,” inviting leading scholars who have long been involved in information literacy education to interact and share with teachers in a livestream format to start learning together on digital literacy teaching and cross-domain applications.
Through digital tools (computers, tablets, phones) and online information, interdisciplinary, unlimited learning models have become the most popular education topic during this pandemic year. With Acer being a computer brand, the Acer Foundation hopes to promote digital learning in Taiwan through the promotion of IT education and digital learning using IT tools, cultivating the capability of children to make skilled use of digital tools and advocating for care for society through practical actions.
Acer Foundation: advocates for digital literacy through three main actions :
Today’s youths are tomorrow’s leaders and innovators. We want to help them tap their potential, using our accumulated experience in problem-solving to fertilize the future. Through organizing and sponsoring events and providing internship opportunities, we foster outstanding talent by providing children with awards, training, and exchange opportunities. We look forward to the continued use of our products and expertise to provide youth with better development opportunities.
For more than 20 years, the Acer Foundation has organized the Longterm series of competitions. As times and technologies have changed, so too have the competitions, but throughout, they have been committed to promoting entrepreneurship among college and graduate students and to promoting innovative energy across Taiwan. Today, we have accomplished our task of promoting new innovations on campuses, and with an eye to the future, the Acer Foundation now focuses on international vision and strategy, aiming to guide sustainable business development, promote industrial upgrade in Taiwan, and help high-quality small and medium-sized enterprises to enter the international market. To this end, we are contributing more and more of Acer’s experience and capabilities.
In the 4th Longterm Smile Internet of Beings Competition, we added an international category, aiming to find teams that have developed steadily in Taiwan and have overseas business plans and potential. In addition to providing winning teams with substantial rewards, Acer Group is also harnessing its many years of transnational experience, bringing together the marketing capabilities of operating locations around the
world, focusing on international vision and strategies, and adding practical cooperation methods to help teams in the international category to optimize their marketing management and international rollout, thus
aiding Taiwanese teams with potential to more quickly carve out a space in overseas markets.
We hope that through Acer’s experience sharing and cooperation in the operation and management of multinational groups, companies aspiring to expand abroad will be able to overcome challenges and break new ground, taking their place on the global stage and doing Taiwan proud.
The 4th BeingLife Creativity Competition was held in February 2020 at the National Taiwan Science Education Center. The award ceremony was held at a time when the impact of COVID-19 was particularly strong, and although the event was still held physically, masks were worn throughout, leaving interesting behind-the-scenes group photos that highlight the global situation of the time. This year the competition attracted a record-high number of entries collected, and the content of the competition focused on issues such as the environment, community care, and home security. The teams that took part made use of the concept of the Internet of Beings to propose ideas and creative works that solve everyday problems. In addition, this year, for the first time, students from non-school-based experimental education participated in the competition, demonstrating the unique achievements of diversified education. This year marked the final time the BeingLife Creativity Competition would be held in its current incarnation. The Acer Foundation founded the Digital Creation Awards in 2004. In 2016, after 12 years, these awards transitioned into the BeingLife Creativity Competition. During the four years of the competition, thousands of entries have come in from junior and senior high school students from all over Taiwan in categories including project proposals, videos, and practical creations. In total, nearly $3 million in prize money was given away. At the same time, seed schools were selected and provided with technical guidance and subsidies to help cultivate innovative talent. In the past two years, this has expanded further to include Internet of Beings camps which offer teams a chance to learn from industry experts and exchange ideas. After over a decade of evolution in technology education, the phased tasks of the BeingLife Creativity Competition will now be coming to an end. The implementation of the 2019 syllabus has added a new science and technology curriculum which has become the focus of secondary school technology education, and has further developed students’ technological literacy and IT-related skills as part of national compulsory education. More importantly, though, we believe that through this, students have developed their creative abilities, which is the core spirit of this competition.
