Yidan Chen on technology in education
From Welcome remarks | 2024 Yidan Prize Summit · · Yidan Prize
“Technology is a game changer in this era of change — it can be used to reach marginalized learners of all ages wherever they are, presenting challenges as well as unprecedented opportunities if education systems grasp the pressing need to be more adaptive and innovative.”
On , Yidan Chen, Co-Founder & Advisor Emeritus at Tencent Holdings, spoke about technology in education during Welcome remarks | 2024 Yidan Prize Summit on Yidan Prize.
About Yidan Chen
Dr Charles Chen Yidan, co-founder and advisor emeritus of Tencent Holdings, has continued to focus on education philanthropy through the Yidan Prize, which he founded in 2016. In his welcome remarks at the 2025 Yidan Prize Awards Ceremony, Chen stated that he sees the red in the prize logo "in a new light," describing the educational mission it represents as "radiations with the light of hope." He welcomed the 2025 laureates—Professor Uri Wilensky for education research and Mamadou for education development—and noted that their respective contributions "complement each other." At the 2024 Yidan Prize Summit, Chen identified two prominent education challenges: declining student mental health in the wake of the pandemic and widening educational inequity between regions due to lack of access to funding and infrastructure in developing economies. He described technology as "a game changer" that can reach marginalized learners but also presents challenges, and he emphasized that "resilience is what makes us human." In earlier remarks, Chen has addressed the impact of artificial intelligence, stating at the 2023 summit that AI "is poised to rearrange our way of life, perhaps in more profound waves than the introduction of the internet." He has also spoken about the role of governments as the main providers of school education, noting that policy decisions "largely influence the development of education." Chen has described education as "a double-edged sword" that can both realize fairness and produce inequality, citing examples such as girls being forced to drop out of school and uneven distribution of educational resources. He has stated that the Yidan Prize was established to "find achievements in educational research" and to "promote societal improvement year by year."