"Fast connectivity is key."
"Fast connectivity is key."
A rare assembly of thought leaders from the government and the private sector was held recently in Makati. Hosted by the Stratbase Group, the gathering conveyed incisive recommendations that highlight the value of harmonizing disconnected policies that are frustrating the adoption of innovative solutions to boost the country’s productivity and competitiveness.
Professor Dindo Manhit, Stratbase Group CEO and managing director said that though this year’s Global Innovation Index puts the country’s performance at 54th out of the 129 countries is a significant jump in global ranking, the Philippines still lags behind other ASEAN neighbors such as Singapore (8th), Malaysia (35th), Vietnam (42nd) and Thailand (43rd).
“We believe that to promote innovation, we should nurture an institutional framework that attracts business and fosters growth. The government for its part needs to provide good governance and correct levels of protection and incentives,” Manhit said.
Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Gregorio B. Honasan II, in his keynote speech stated that, “This is the time to shift from a mindset limited by short political timelines to a strategically developmental and competitive approach.”
“It is time for a new policy direction that maximizes the benefits of available information, communications, and technology [or ICT] solutions to cut through paper-based, multi-layered bureaucracy that has unnecessarily burdened our people, who are just trying to make a living,” Honasan said.
He emphasized the urgency of implementing the President’s mandate of providing fast connectivity to the people and streamlining the convoluted processes that bog down progress. Critical will be the operationalization of the National Broadband Program aimed at deploying pervasive broadband connectivity in remote places thru a convergence strategy utilizing public and private resources.
The DICT plans to give free Wi-Fi services to 25-million users in unserved areas of the country. This will need the building of 104,000 access points all over the country that will reduce costs and boost connectivity speed of the whole government and the adoption of cloud-based solutions to automate the operations of all agencies and Local Government Units. Some 111 nodes will need to be activated in three years using the National Grid Corporation’s dark fiber network to cascade capacity to identified growth areas in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Honasan further discussed the accelerated installation of more communication towers in cooperation with telecommunication companies, with total 104 IP radio systems and 105 repeater systems to be erected. Fiber cables to be laid out in collaboration with electric cooperatives, cable providers, and other major stakeholders, will connect more government agencies, public schools and colleges, public hospitals, and local government units.
National Privacy Commissioner Raymund E. Liboro in his speech announced that the Philippines is pushing for better digital governance and will soon become the 9th economy to be enrolled in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation’s Cross Border Privacy Rules system, a regional, multilateral cross-border data transfer mechanism and enforceable privacy code of conduct developed for businesses by APEC member economies.
“This way our people and the people of Japan, for example, could sleep soundly at night even if their data is being shared across borders to other companies within the APEC economies, knowing fully well they are secured with an accepted level of protection recognized by their own authority is adequate,” Liboro said.
Microsoft Philippine’s country manager, Andres Ortola, underlined the power of partnerships with government, institutions and citizens outlining six trends driving empowered governance: 1) Deliver fast services and eliminate labor intensive, manual processes, 2) Meet complex regulatory requirements and ensure security, 3) Do more with less to ease budget constraints, 4) Modernize IT to increase collaboration and eliminate costly legacy technology, 5) Provide secure anytime, anywhere access to services, 6) Increase revenue and take action with advanced data analytics.
Clare Amador, Head for Public Policy of Facebook Philippines, presented initiatives aimed to give more people and businesses the power to connect focusing on MSMEs as the backbone of the Philippine economy. They are now partnering with the DICT, DTI, DOT and local governments to launch Facebook Community Boost, a new initiative to empower local businesses and communities with digital skills to help them engage successfully and safely online.
A powerhouse lineup of industry leaders gave their respective takes on how continuous innovation is crucial in growing the value and maintaining competitive edge of their respective enterprises. The day was punctuated by their frank and constructive insights in an engaging open forum featuring the senior vice president and Global Corporate Head of International Container Terminal Services Inc., Christian Gonzalez; Unionbank of the Philippines chairman and president of Blockchain Association of the Philippines, Justo “Tito” Ortiz; president and CEO of Voyager Innovations, Orlando Vea; Country Director of the State Grid Corporation of China, Shan She Wu; and Principal in Tax of SGV & Co, lawyer Jonald “Jong” R. Vergara. All running extremely successful enterprises, they have managed to navigate the complex and unstable policy regimes of several administrations.
The only way for the economy to really take off is to transform the “opaque, time consuming and expensive bureaucracy” into what professor Manhit proposed should be a more transparent, more aggressive and incentivized approach realizing that with more innovation, the responsiveness of government to new opportunities spell the difference from being a laggard aor being a leader.
In closing, Manhit said, “Innovative tax regimes are seen to be more compatible to emerging technologies and enabling creative firms to grow and produce positive alternatives that: Address potential health risks, use clean energy, use environment friendly materials, reduce solid waste, and power saving devices.
For as long as humans can come up with new ideas the accelerating velocity of innovations will continue to change our world. It is time for us to create the right environment for our soft industries to prosper in a borderless tech driven world.”