The Department of Information and Communication Technology and private stakeholders of the premier annual tech conference in the Philippines seek to harness the startup community in helping fix the country’s environmental problems.
“Aside from gathering tech entrepreneurs and professionals as we have done in previous Geeks on a Beach, we hope serial entrepreneurs, Filipino-Americans from Silicon Valley, will provide more heft to the event,” said Tina Amper of TechTalks.ph.
“Yobie Benjamin, among others, had invested in a startup that protects wildlife in Kenya and mangrove forests in Brazil and earning the carbon credits in the process. You have to listen to how he does it,” said Amper who is now organizing the fifth Geeks on a Beach or GOAB. Yobie was awarded 2015 Technology Pioneer of the World Economic Forum and is an alumnus of the University of the Philippines.
The strong and promising potential for the Philippines to be a location for tech start-ups is “tremendous” because of the talent pool, GlycoProX and Veem co-founder Aldo Carrascoso said.
GlycoProX is on the verge of developing a computation plus instrumentation-based cure for breast cancer. Its co-founders, including Fil-Am Carrascoso, have proven track record of success with value creation of half a billion U.S. dollars.
Palawan boasts of global environmental wonders like the underground river, the Tubbataha reef and world class beaches. As such, GOAB will tackle the theme of “Environment and Technology”, and it will also have tracks on “Startups in the Region”, “Creatives for the Future” and “Tech for Challenging the World”, said David Overton, CEO of Sym.ph and chief GOAB Geek.
GOAB will happen on Aug. 24 to 25, 2017 in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan.
“We also hope to push DICT projects that we launched recently. These projects like Pipol Konek National Free Wifi Program, the National Government Portal, and the National Broadband Project are designed to give birth to digital Filipinos,” said Undersecretary Mon Ibrahim.
PLDT, Smart, Voyager, PayMaya, ePLDT, Smart DevNet, PLDT Enterprise, and PLDT Innolab are supporting GOAB as co-presenters while A Space is co-producer.