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With the elections over, it’s pretty much back to business as usual. Davao’s I.T. industry players are gearing up for this year’s major events. In particular, the Mindanao ICT Congress (I mistakenly termed it “MICT Summit” in previous articles) is starting to gain some ground.
Finally, the MICT Congress franchise owner and this year’s host organization have agreed on the broad strokes of the event’s planning and management. The Mindanao Business Council (MBC) and the Davao City Chamber of Commerce & Industry have set the date on 26 to 28 October 2007. And, the inclusion and participation of the Davao ICT Inc. has also been approved in principle.
While no official statement has been released yet, apparently the ongoing negotiations include an agreement that the three organizations will split the event’s profits three ways. Currently, the Davao Chamber and ICT Davao are threshing out the particulars of the memorandum of agreement.
ICT Davao, being at the center of the whole affair, is expected to generate the MICT Congress’ main content. The Chamber, as the event’s host, is the overall organizer. It is responsible for the event’s groundhandling, among other things. The MBC, for its part, is committing to ensure wide participation from its member organizations across Mindanao.
Recently, ICT Davao got a boost from no less than Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim of the Commission on ICT. The CICT is the national government’s lead agency in the promotion and advancement of the Philippine I.T. industry. Ibrahim is tasked to further the progress of this administration’s ICT master plan, the Philippine CyberServices Corridor.
The CyberServices Corridor is the Filipinos’ answer to Malaysia’s CyberJaya and India’s Multimedia Highway. This planned Corridor will pave the way for I.T. industrial development from Baguio City all the way to Davao City.
To help this along, Commissioner Ibrahim was in town last Friday, 11 May, to meet with ICT Davao representatives. The commissioner’s main purpose in visiting Davao was to touch base with the local industry players and gather vital input for the constantly evolving CyberServices Corridor master plan. Ibrahim also indicated that he is keen on organizing a national aggrupation of industry associations during his term in the CICT.
In 2004, I participated in the Fly High Philippine Software 2010 program, which was held in Tagaytay Highlands. Ibrahim was also there, then representing a private enterprise. It was very reassuring to hear the commissioner talk at length about the importance of the software sector last Friday. I’m glad that the Tagaytag convention initiative, which was spearheaded by the CICT and the Philippine Software Industry Association, is still exerting influence on the government’s view of the I.T. industry.
Of late I’d been fearing that the national government was focusing too much on I.T.-enabled services (e.g., call centers), rather than on the mainstream sector. Software development is at the heart of the whole industry. In other parts of the globe, it is the sector that contributed most to the advancement of I.T. hubs such as Silicon Valley and Bangalore. The business of software development is the one that adds the highest value to the economy.
Davao’s lackluster showing in the number of local software development houses is a challenge. While the city has only a handful tax-paying software developers at present, we do have a healthy number of freelancers and independent developers operating in the metropolis. The challenge is to encourage these “non-aligned” individuals into becoming active contributors to the local economy.
The Department of Trade & Indstry – Region 11 is in fact very supportive of this. Unbeknownst to many, the DTI actually has a funding window available to startup I.T. companies. Additionally, there are business support services already in place, such as the DTI’s NERBAC and the Davao Chamber’s SME Center.
Now, if only the two upcoming I.T. parks — Damosa Land’s and SM City’s — would embark on an I.T. incubation program, then the circle of support would be complete. Some of my colleagues and I hold the belief that an I.T. incubation facility is what transforms a real estate development project into an I.T. economic zone. The most basic premise is that, homegrown high-tech businesses are the ones that truly participate in nation-building.
Foreign investments in large-scale contact centers, for example, are all well and good, of course. It is important for employment and for the initial inflow of capital, I suppose. But I have a sinking feeling that, ultimately, they’re just good for bolstering the image of grandstanding politicos….
Therefore, Dabawenyo entrepreneurship in I.T. business is highly recommended. For more discussions and input on this, I also recommend this blog: Studies in Technopreneurship. It is being authored by Mark Maglana, who is on an AusAID scholarship in Australia for a masters degree in entrepreneurship.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, 15 May 2007 at 9:00 am and is filed under Associations, Technopreneurship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Count me in on events like this bro.
Thanks
Great, MiGs! Looking forward to having you on board!
Thanks for the mention, Blogs. Just a very minor correction though, I’m taking up Master of Management (specialisation in Technology, Innovation, and Commercialisation). Although, the way the program is structured does seem to give it a more entrepreneurial flavor rather than just management/administration. Hmmm…they might as well call it Master of Entrepreneurship. Oh well.
By the way, could you kindly critique my latest post.
Ok Mark, thanks for the erratum.
Not much of an erratum, methinks: I ended up practically agreeing with you anyway.
Thanks for the critique, by the way.
Thank you guys for featuring my recent visit to Davao. More power to you all.
Cheers,
Mon Ibrahim
My pleasure, Mr. Ibrahim. We look forward to working with you more in the foreseeable future!