A group of concerned Microsoft Filipinos, Tina, and I made the trip from Seattle to San Jose (California) for the first ever Philippine Development Forum on Sep. 24. The event format was based on the World Economic Forum where relevant statistics were shared to help ground moderated discussions. At this year’s inaugural event, the push was for “Practical and Implementable approaches to help spur Philippine Development”. The goal was to synthesize the resulting ideas into a paper that will be presented to President Noynoy Aquino.
Pres. Noynoy Aquino, Dado Banatao, Mario Montejo (DOST), Ivan Uy (CICT), Fernando Zobel Ayala, Winston Damarillo, Felipe Medalla, Paco Sandejas, Sen. Chiz Escudero, and a host of other concerned Filipinos graced the occasion.
Philippine Competitiveness Lagging our Asian Neighbors
The World Economic Forum recently released its 2010 country rankings. At face value, some would focus on the Philippines’ 2 point improvement (from 87th to 85th). However, what this doesn’t show is that the Philippines is still in the bottom 1/3rd of the 139 countries in the report. More concerning is that we are 7th among our ASEAN neighbors and now 26 spots behind Vietnam which has surged 16 places forward.
Dissecting the numbers shows that though we are ranked 35 for market size, the following 4 pillars drag us lower in the country rankings:
- Institutions (125 of 139) – Primarily a measure of Graft and Corruption.
- Innovation (111 of 139) – Due to inadequate R&D, scientists, engineers, and intellectual property protection.
- Labor Market Efficiency (Rank 111) – As a reflection of hiring/firing practices and general business/labor relations.
- Infrastructure (104 of 139) – Due to the quality of our transport, energy, and telephony infrastructure.
Other statistics mentioned:
- $8.9B trade deficit in goods. This is not immediately apparent in GDP reports as the goods deficit is hidden by growth in remittances.
- Only 3% of the Philippines’ GDP spent on education
- Each classroom-full of new students (40) born every 12 minutes will cost an additional P1M to educate
- Only 7% of students choose science and engineering
- 50% Graduation rate in Science and Engineering
- Every time 1 Masters student graduates in the Philippines, Vietnam produces 6 MS graduates and Thailand produces 25
- To get on par with our Asian neighbors, we need 7,000 PhD’s, we only have 1,300.
What can be done?
While recognizing corruption as a key issue that the government needs to resolve, the forum focused on what was actionable today. In this case, the main thrust was on promoting world-class innovation through science and technology research, education, investment, and entrepreneurship. Often mentioned was how we could create a silicon-valley like ecosystem of investors and technology leaders to start-up globally competitive businesses around high-value IP developed in the Philippines.
- Shankar Sastry from the Banatao Institute @CITRIS Berkeley discussed the following emerging technology trends to help spur the imagination of those in attendance:
- Ubiquitous Wireless Access – He showed WiFi standards modified for long-range applications in a rural barrio setting.
- Sensory Webs – Tiny devices able to relay real-world data will proliferate measuring energy usage, traffic patterns, weather, healthcare, etc.
- Cyber Physical Systems
- Telemedicine in Healthcare
- Dr. Guevarra, Chairman of the Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT) mentioned projects such as Research in a Box and encouraged US-based Filipinos to put up research institutes in the Philippines
- Dr. Dayrit from Ateneo suggested the creation of a community of scientists and engineers
- Dr. Lebrilla, Chairman of UC-Davis’ Chemistry department suggested that educating scientists alone will not be sufficient as educated Filipino scientists are in demand globally and will likely just depart.
- Senator Chiz Escudero while frankly recognizing that the issue was hard, reiterated that the government is working to eradicate corruption. We need to encourage students to choose Science and Engineering over nursing and business jobs. He also mentioned how the Philippines was the #1 rice importing country and how we need scientists to improve rice production technology.
- Ms. Lilia De Lima mentioned that corruption had no place in the PEZA.
- Dr Paco Sandejas, VC and founder of the Brain Gain Network (BGN) appealed for Fil-Am scientists and engineers to get connected and to recruit each other to go back home to the Philippines where they can make a difference.
- Mario Montejo, Dep’t. of Science and Technology Secretary, reiterated the need to reverse Brain Drain by creating a culture of innovation (Human Capital, R&D, and Commercial Applications)
- Ivan Uy, CICT secretary, emphasized the push towards e-governance
- Doy Vea from PLDT SMART advocated releasing a tsunami of entrepreneurial spirit
- Dado Banatao, successful VC and Chairman of the PhilDev Foundation, was encouraged to see the frankness from government leaders when discussing the controversial issue of corruption. He also reiterated Paco’s call for Brain Gain and added that Angel Investing to support Philippine entrepreneurs with great ideas can likewise be effective. Lastly, he challenged entrepreneurs to understand the market, create unique solutions, stand out, and plan to execute properly.
How do PhilDev goals link to Cloud Computing in the Philippines?
The nascent shift to cloud computing feels so much like the wave that ushered the Internet’s arrival. Two decades ago, the internet wave caught the Philippines off-guard and it was not able to capitalize on the worldwide phenomena. The Philippines cannot afford to stand still this time around and is presented with a unique opportunity to catch the Cloud wave before it completely crests through home-grown innovation. We have early thought-leaders thanks to Winston Damarillo’s G2iX (Morphlabs, Exist) but need entrepreneurs, VCs, and angel-investors to further innovate in this ripe environment. We have a few ideas in mind…