The Philippines recently participated in CommunicAsia2016 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo in Singapore featuring local startups selected by the Philippine Department of Science and Technology – Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO).
The line-up includes Advanced World Solutions, Inc., GiftIt, Good Meal Hunting, InnoVantage, Launch Garage, MEDIFI, Orchestrack, ProudCloud and TicketBase which showcased creative and innovative solutions in online food marketplace for home-based cooks, TV and radio advertising monitoring and analytics, web development, social gifting, and remote doctor-patient consultation, among others.
“We are excited to again take the lead in the Philippine participation in CommunicAsia2016. We look at CommunicAsia as an excellent venue for highlighting Philippine digital innovations. This year, we featured several Filipino digital startups who we believe will eventually become big players in the region,” said DOST-ICTO Deputy Executive Director Monchito Ibrahim.
For the past two years, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has been working closely with DOST-ICTO for the development of the startups and innovation ecosystem in the Philippines. During the APEC 2015 hosting, DTI launched SlingShotMNL which paved way in the gathering and development of startup community among APEC economies. It was then followed by series of dialogues and mentoring dubbed as SlingShot Philippines in April this year.
At present, DTI continues to support the establishment of startup and innovation ecosystem in the Philippines as directed and supported by the eight strategy of the 2015-2017 Philippine Export Development Plan. Recently, it launched an Innovation Hub, a co-workspace situated at the DTI International Building, Makati City. The Innovation Hub under the Negosyo Center Plus operating model offers the budding startups and innovators opportunities for market access and capital, and mentorship.
“We hope that with public-private partnerships, the innovation hubs can really help hasten the startup ecosystem development and catalyze the increase in the number of high growth oriented enterprises that can bring brand Philippines in a global scale,” said DTI Undersecretary Nora K. Terrado.
The Philippines has become a leading source of tech startups and talent. Aside from the operations and labor cost savings, it has a young, tech-savvy and highly-educated English-speaking workforce. Philippine universities produce thousands of graduates specializing in engineering and technology annually. Most of them are skilled in app design and programming languages, ensuring a thoroughly capable workforce.
In 2015, the DOST-ICTO launched the Philippine Roadmap for Digital Startups, a collaborative effort between private and public stakeholders. It is aimed at addressing gaps in the startup ecosystem, inspiring techno-preneurship among the locals, and attracting more venture capitalists or angel investors.
“The goal was to go beyond introducing our market-ready startups. We initiated relationships with influencers and decision-makers and shared the role of these startups in enabling digital transformation of businesses,” added Ibrahim.
CommunicAsia attracts global leaders as well as emergent players providing technology and innovations. This year’s show features major tech trends that are the pillars of today and tomorrow’s smart cities and smart enterprises such as Internet of Things, smart technologies, cybersecurity, big data analytics, mobility, TV Everywhere and many more.