The “PCs for Life” Festival is an initiative of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) and launched in collaboration with Thai Nguyen People’s Committee.
The opening ceremony was attended by Mr. Nguyen Bac Son - Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Information and Communications; Mr. Nguyen Dinh Phach - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of Provincial Party Committee; Mr. Duong Ngoc Long - Deputy secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of Thai Nguyen People’s Committee; Mr. Nguyen Minh Hong - Deputy Minister of Information and Communications; leaders of MIC and Provincial People Committee’s units; representatives of 30 Northern provinces and cities as well as businesses, organizations participated in the festival.
The “PCs for Life” Festival is a continuation of MIC’s successful "PCs for Life" initiative launched in the framework of the World ICT Forum (WITFOR) 2009 in Hanoi. This event is held annually and alternately in locals nationwide, aiming at raising awareness about the use of computers, Internet and benefits of ICT to people in disadvantaged areas and creating motivations, beliefs on IT for the youth, pupils and students.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Minister Nguyen Bac Son has emphasized the social meaning and humanity that the Festival had made in 5 years of deployment. He believed that Thai Nguyen as the social - economic center of the Northern midlands and mountainous area, the 3rd biggest training center of the country, would be the highlight in promoting the effectiveness of IT universalization, human resources training for the foundation of IT development.
The “PCs for Life” Festival was taken place in 2 days with many activities including: Donating computers and free Internet connections for people in Thai Nguyen and the northern provinces attended the festival; “PCs for Life” Seminar; “Programming on open source software platform and Windows Phone” Seminar; Universal IT training for residents, students and pupils; Exhibition showcasing ICT products, solutions and services; Signing MOUs between MIC and Thai Nguyen Province with foreign companies, between the MIC Youth and Thai Nguyen Province, etc.
In particular, the Seminar with the topic "IT – The platform for innovation and success" transmitted the message of the power of IT in the digital age and motivated the youth connecting with the IT industry as well as increasing their beliefs in the State and Province’s policies in this field.
In the festival, 416 computers, including 160 desktops and 256 tablets were committed to be donated. In particular, VIC Invest Group donated 100 computers to Thai Nguyen Province, Viettel Telecommunications Group donated 150 tablets and Internet connections to 30 provinces and 6 tablets to HIV children Care Center in Yen Bai, NTT Vietnam donated 30 computers to 30 provinces attending the Festival, Intel Vietnam: 100 tablets for 5 classrooms in Thai Nguyen and 4 other provinces, Huawei Vietnam: 30 computers. In addition, other sponsors: VNPT Group, Microsoft Vietnam and FPT Telecom have also funded for the organization and activities of the Festival.
