Next week will be brimming with high-octane activities, all in Davao City. The 6th Mindanao ICT Congress kicks off tomorrow; the 1st BIMP-EAGA ICT Conference will also form part of the MICT Congress; not to mention, the Senior Officials & Ministerial Meeting of the BIMP-EAGA member-nations.
The Internet Café Association of Davao will also hold an event, and there will also be the annual Davao Trade Expo (DATE). And of course, the 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit on the 27th. That’s what’s been keeping me preoccupied for the past couple of months. Blogging isn’t necessarily an ICT thing, although of course the technical stuff behind blogs is pure information technology. But I digress.
After the blogging summit, I will definitely return to my main responsibility, and that’s to Davao’s I.T. industry. This year has seen me too engrossed in activities that are far removed from the core of the I.T. industry. But that’ll change soon enough. First order of business after the blogging summit on 27 October is to get my feet wet in industry research.
Davao’s I.T. industry sorely lacks properly researched numbers. We have no idea where we stand in terms of the number of I.T. practitioners we have, nor of the skills that they possess. A comprehensive skills survey is absolutely necessary. It is therefore fortunate that the city government has finally realized this need. Or at least the ICT Task Force, which I hope will be able to convince the LGU of the necessity of this industry research undertaking.
Another positive development in the local I.T. arena is the rejuvenation of the Association of Solution Integrators in Davao (ASID), the pla for which is being discussed now. ASID is the organization of software development companies, graphics design outfits, and e-service providers. The Association has unfortunately lain dormant for almost two years. But its revival is in the offing.
This doesn’t mean I’m not going to get my hands dirty in other blogging events anymore. Far from it. In fact, a couple are on the drawing board already…. But that’s for later.
Meantime, head on to NCCC Mall, which is where most of the ICT-related events will be taking place this week. Immerse yourself in the various and varied talks, presentations, demonstrations. Get familiar with Davao ICT’s talking heads, demagogues, activists and who’s whos.
one of the attendees a fellow friend of mine have said; that the bimp-eaga was to focused on the economy.. less has been said on ict projects like software development, ict project etc…
Hello faust! Wow… prolific commenting, I see
Unfortunately, the previous BIMP-EAGA leadership did not see fit to capitalize on IT as an emerging industry in the region. Hopefully the present one (it’s the Philippines now) will do something about it. IT isn’t even a full focus area of development anymore within the BIMP-EAGA set of priorities. There’s much to be said about this, but I’ll leave it at that for now.