The 2nd Cebu ICT Summit: The Programs of Actions

The original summaries of the summit will tell you that we have a very long and very specific list of things we need to do. Like always, I have to find the more organized way to cluster activities and I was able to discern the general cluster of things we need to accomplish and lumped them into programs.

The many program of action enumerated and contributed by the delegates in the 2nd Cebu Information and Communication Technology Summit last May 24-26, 2006, in the four pillars and a special session, can be clustered in related and highly integrated cluster of activities. Regardless of who is the stakeholder or the provider of these action or activity, it can be generally clustered into the following programs:

Information, Education and Communication (IEC)
Information, Education and Communication are programs to get the message across to the stakeholders. Information is the content or the message in your campaign or your project. This should include editorial style, images, forms, fonts, layout, etc. Communication is the technology, media, channel or sets of activities that delivers the message. Education is the strategies, projects, tasks or activities that creatively and effectively use information and communication for a desired outcome. The outcome can be a certain course of action, acquisition of knowledge or skill, change of attitude and perspective or a decision in favor or against a certain issue.

Innovation and Enterprise Development
A cluster of programs that develops or enhances the capability and capacity of the business sector of Cebu to develop products and services, sell and deliver these products and services to their chosen market niches, create alliances, build equity or capital, encourage a culture of innovation, and build infrastructure support. The program must also encourage the inflow of investments that enhances local competence and technology transfer in the area of engineering design or software development.

Brand Management and Business Development
A program to market all products and services from Cebu under a single brand and the development of a unified strategy to market the Cebu brand globally. The initiative shall include establishing alliances with international regional business or trade organizations and setting up Cebu marketing or business centers near diplomatic offices and creating a single point of entry over the Internet.

Education and Human Resource Development
Strategies or cluster of programs to develop or enhance the infrastructure, processes, mechanisms, investments or capabilities of stakeholders delivering or using education and managing our human resource. This encompasses stakeholders like the academe, human resource development practitioners, independent HR service providers, training or capability enhancement providers, workforce development institutions, etc. Institutional partnerships and collaboration shall also be encouraged in this program whether formal or informal.

Standards and Best Practices
A program that gathers information, analyze, collate, document, coordinate, develop, and disseminate industry standards and best practices in information and communications technology for whatever applications. These standards cover professional standards, education, infrastructure, information systems, data or information management, security and privacy, communications, e-governance, e-commerce, etc. Also included in the program is the collaboration and cooperation between local and foreign institutions.

Research and Intelligence
Programs that encourage research both basic and advance whether initiated by the government, private sector or academe in the use, development, deployment or application of information and communications technology. These programs emphasize the development of products and services that meet niche market needs, solve an adverse human condition or improve the quality of life. Intelligence is the deliberate activities to gather information about markets, technological developments, local environment, foreign, and domestic trade with the objective of aiding our positioning in the global economy. Also included in this program are the collaboration and the alliances to bring research and development from overseas.

Laws and Incentives
A cluster of programs that cover review of existing laws, policies, processes and structure in the context of developing or using information and communications technology. This program also includes drafting a proposed bill, amending an existing law, developing and changing implementing rules and regulations in the context of regulating, encouraging or prescribing incentives.

Structural Support Development
A program to coordinate government and private sector initiated programs that include the creation of organizational vehicles to implement all programs of actions under the ICT agenda, acquiring the competence to manage programs and projects, and developing and managing logistical support for these programs.

I presented this Programs of Actions to the Cebu Provincial Information and Communication Technology Council last June 6, 2006, at the Old Session Hall of the Cebu Provincial Capitol Building. Our very own Governor Gwendolyn Garcia chairs this Council.

Read my next blog to see the highlights of the 2nd Session of the Cebu Information and Communication Technology Council or CPICTC.

The 2nd Cebu ICT Summit: Summit Manager's Notes

The Summit Discussions tackled issues that, as far as the online and live focus group discussions indicate, already have existing programs, projects or intervention strategies initiated either by not-for-profit organizations, private sector and the government (both local and national).

The rationale for this approach is to avoid starting discussions around purely conceptual approaches to issues. The first summit was peppered by so much of these discussions largely on purpose but mostly to find consensus. The 2nd Summit is no longer getting consensus to identify issues, it is to rally stakeholders to a more focused program of action.

In the early meetings to organize the 2nd Cebu ICT Summit in the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, it was decided that it will be a purely private-sector led initiative to be supported by government. The strategy was to set the direction by holding the 2nd Cebu ICT Summit first thereafter organizing a private organizational vehicle that will see the program through 2010 and eventually to 2015.

The Workshop Manager’s Notes are the summaries of the discussions of the four (4) Pillars of the Silicon Valley Model and the Special Session on the Digital Divide (or what was later on referred to as Digital Inclusion). The summaries are organized in a Program Matrix consisting originally of three (3) columns and a fourth column was added at the end of the session to reflect the ranking of the clusters of programs into priorities. The programs were ranked from 1, 2, 3 according to degree of importance to the delegates with one as being the most important and urgent.

The Program Matrices found in the Facilitator’s Notes are shown with four (4) columns and reflects the points from the raw discussions in the summit--Nothing was added and nothing was taken from the notes.

The first column reflects the ranking of the issues and programs. The second column reflects issues under each pillar and special session that are considered critical to that pillar or special session. Many of these issues came from as far back as the first summit. Overall very few new issues came up in this summit. The third column reflects the initiatives, programs, projects or intervention strategies already existing or models already being use to resolve the issues. These initiatives, programs, projects or intervention strategies are implemented by government, the private sector or not-for-profit organizations. In a sense, all points under the third column entitled “Program of Actions” indicate that there exist models for approaching issues within the pillar. The fourth column shows the specific stakeholder or clusters of organizations that maybe able to contribute to the execution of the programs or has already implemented the program.

A separate and more comprehensive set of notes is being prepared as an input to a project management template that will be the basis for subsequent planning workshops with stakeholders. The original organizational vehicle during the planning meetings of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry was assumed to be a Foundation to keep the intent of keeping the ICT initiatives private sector led and to take advantage of the perpetuity of such an organization until its tasks are completed and the overall goals achieved.

I wish to thank the following that made the preparation and completion of the summit possible:

Cebu Chamber of Commerce & Industry most especially Clarito “Lito” Fruelda who made himself available during the planning meetings and Francis Monera our new President who pursued the summit to its conclusion.

Bonifacio “Boni” Belen, Executive Director of the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology or CEDFIT, who started the discussions going and who was with us every step of the way. The same appreciation goes to the staff of CEDFIT without their toils the many hundreds of “small tasks” that led to the summit would not have been possible.

The Office of the Provincial Governor that harness the resources of the Planning and Development Office and the Management Information Systems. The many arrangements before and during the summit was made possible by the very active teams of these offices.

The Centre for International Education or CIE that committed its research, library and publishing resources to help me compile the voluminous references that led to the completion of the focus group discussion and workshop materials.

The delegates who stayed through the summit in spite of their heavy schedules and have unselfishly contributed their thoughts to complete the program of action.

May this summit set a truly productive agenda for all of us.

The Digital Divide

The issue of the digital divide in the context of alleviating poverty was the central theme of the involvement of the Office of the Cebu Provincial Governor. From the time the summit was first presented to Governor Gwendolyn Garcia until the last Executive Committee Meeting of the Provincial Information and Communication Technology Council, the nagging question of how to leverage information and communication technology to alleviate poverty have permeated all interaction with her. It was the single prescription that Governor Garcia demanded from the Summit Working Group. The special group on the digital divide was formed and suggested by Bonifacio Belen, Executive Director of the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology or CEDFIT.

In a special focus group discussion just to discuss e-Centers and the issues of the digital divide in the island of Cebu, very interesting points were raised about community and enterprise development work of special interest groups. A special session in the 2nd Cebu ICT Summit was thus created just to give focus to this concern. A separate focus group was therefore required to give stakeholders a say in this issue. According to Frederick Amores of the National Computer Center, it was the first time ever that special interest groups were called specifically to discuss issues on the digital divide.

The focus group discussion was done at the IT Conference Room, May 16, 2006, Provincial Capitol attended by WorldCom, E-Development Initiatives (EDI), Central Visayas Information Sharing Network (CVISNet), and the National Computer Center (NCC).

It seems the current programs and intervention strategies are trying to do the following:

• Enhance education especially at the Basic Education level
• Introduce computer skills for employment opportunities
• Use computer knowledge to either help enterprises or build enterprises in the community
• Use technology to enable or boost local economies.

Existing programs have already been implemented to meet issues at the community level. Some of these issues and the program currently being implemented by different special interest groups are as follows:

Introducing technology into the rural barangays through Community e-Centers
The National Computer Center in Region 7 through the Central Visayas Information Sharing Network or CVISNet have set up many community e-centers across the Visayas and Mindanao. This could be a good model for implementing e-governance projects. It has proven to be sustainable but may need more logistical support to get the project deeper into the farthest barangays.

Development of Basic Education using the Internet and interactive multi-media technology
The Centre for International Education has developed a basic education curriculum and an e-learning system that will put our rural school children at par with the best elementary curriculum in the United Kingdom and the US. The model has already a proven curriculum and a good business model for sustainability. The Provincial Office of the Department of Education has also embarked even on limited resources to a technology immersion program for their teachers. They are currently implementing an e-learning system for the public school and a web-enabled administrative support system.

Providing training content for technical and technology education in the rural barangays
WorldCorp, Aboitiz Group Foundation, Microsoft, the Philippine Business for Social Progress, all non-government or not-for-profit organizations, have implemented successful programs for bringing technology into the rural areas via the elementary schools. If we come up with a more integrated approach to all these programs, we may be able to address the digital divide issue much earlier than the United Nations target of 2015. We no longer need to re-invent the wheel. We just need to agree to focus, to integrate, collaborate and stick to the same plan to get bigger results in less time.

Use computer knowledge to either help enterprises or build enterprises in the community
WorldCorp and E-Development are organizations currently using technology to either create enterprises at the barangay level or enable existing economies to conduct business beyond their immediate community. We have to understand how their programs work and help these organizations scale up their capacity to deliver their services at a much larger scale.

Use technology to enable or boost local economies
There are currently very serious efforts to develop products and services that will help organizations, communities, rural banks and cooperatives use technology to deliver value-added services or enable disadvantaged sectors like agriculture to have an equal playing field in the economy. A company called RuralNet is enabling rural banks to have the same ICT infrastructure as BancNet and Megalink at a fraction of the cost.

Develop or enhance the competence of Public School teachers to either teach or use ICT in communities
The Aboitiz Group Foundation, the Philippine Business for Social Progress, Microsoft Partners in Learning, the Centre for International Education, and Department of Education have all initiated development programs to enhance primary education. The next step is find a framework for integration, collaboration and large-scale delivery.

The existing programs indicate that there are already successful intervention strategies. The real issue is scalability. How do we implement such successful programs with really committed proponents throughout the whole island of Cebu?

Caesar Atienza, ICT Consultant to the Office of the Cebu Provincial Governor, commented during the discussion about the issue of scalability and the intricacies of program management can become the themes for further focus group discussions after the summit with the view of coming up with an operational plan.


(The synthesis and materials in the focus group discussions were prepared through the facilities of the Centre for International Education.)

Fourth Pillar: The Availability of Legal and Financial Frameworks

There's no doubt that government cannot extend assistance to the private sector without a mandate defined by law. Our ability to move within our innovation ecosystem and our economy is hinge on the environment that our national and local laws provide.

Tax and investment incentives even financial access is almost absolutely defined by our fiscal policies, investment and banking laws. The creation of our organizations and the ability of organizations to expand are encouraged or limited by our laws.

Our vision to expand beyond our shores to enter into global markets will force us not only to deal with our national laws but also the laws of the country we intend to trade with and intervening international laws and conventions.

We have to ask ourselves:

• What laws will help us take advantage of opportunities?
• What laws will enhance our capability to penetrate the global market?
• What laws will help build and nurture our innovation ecosystem, build the critical mass of professionals and practitioners, and create a generation of technology entrepreneurs?
• What laws or portions of such laws inhibit our Agenda?
• What laws do we need to pass or portions of the laws we need to amend to push our Cebu ICT Agenda or the National ICT Agenda?
• What mechanisms and programs will enable stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem to participate in the legislation process to frame pragmatic and relevant laws to further our ICT Agenda?

From the references, notes and discussions about the legal and financial frameworks, the following perceptions, understandings and assertions were discerned from the focus group:

Creation of a local ICT council
This council was suppose to be created after the first summit: One for every chartered or urbanized city, one for the province, and eventually one for the region. It has been partly accomplished by the creation of the Provincial Information and Communication Technology Council through Executive Order No. 06, Series of 2006, issued by the Her Excellency the Gwendolyn Garcia, Provincial Governor of Cebu.

Creation of a working group or organization to review, introduce amendments or introduce laws to make higher and basic education responsive to economic development goals of Cebu
The lack of flexibility in managing the curriculum of higher education and responding to changing global changes, have put our higher education institutions at a disadvantage against its foreign counterparts. Unless we do something to the CHEd charter its executives cannot initiate a more dynamic higher education for our country. At the moment, most technical working groups on higher education are really immersed in doing a work around on the limitations of CHEd's charter and its internal policies. It is time that a more focus group of committed stakeholders sit down with CHEd and work on a long-term solution to these issues.

Creation of a technical group to review, introduce amendments or introduce laws to encourage the growth of the Capital and Financial Markets
All of our policies and incentives programs are really built on the manufacturing model. There is currently no prevailing law or policy that specifically identifies ICT as a sector in an incentives program. There is a confused perspective that Board of Invesmtment incentive packages can be applied to e-services. This is born out of the belief that contact centers and business process outsourcing companies are taking advantage of the incentives under the Philippine Economic Zone program. These incentives are given to foreign direct investments. What we need are specific incentives that will level the playing field for local players entering the export of e-services or IT-services.

Creation of a technical group to review, introduce amendments or introduce laws to establish a Local Development Board
While the private sector will undoubtedly find a vehicle to put its agenda in high gear, government does not have a counterpart to this initiative. There must be a single body that directs the development direction of Cebu. This body must have clout and preferably managed by a representative from the private sector with relevant experience and deep involvement in enterprise development.

Creation of a technical group to review, introduce amendments or introduce laws to develop or formulate incentives to universities, institutions or organizations engaging in the development of the workforce or the human resources of Cebu
If academe is treated just like any service provider, it is just logical that it receives the same incentives as the private enterprise. There must be a group that can work not only with academe but also other service providers delivering competence or capability to discuss, plan and formulate a legislative instrument to help our lawmakers frame the laws properly. It is about time that stakeholders take a more proactive role in legislations that will eventually affect them.

Creating a vehicle to implement the programs and projects that will be born out of the strategic planning workshop of the summit
After all have been said and all perspectives are heard, the next major milestone is putting the plan into an operational machinery to reach milestones defined in the strategic plan. Are we going to let government take this plan and integrate it into one of many existing programs? Is it going to be with a business organization or chamber also among its many programs under the different committees? Or is it going to be another organization specifically focusing on getting the ICT Agenda done? The organizational vehicle will bind the commitments and build the framework under which many stakeholders will be working together. After that, will be finding and choosing the leader who will embody the Agenda and lead the organization to its defined goal and mission.


(The synthesis and materials in the focus group discussions were prepared through the facilities of the Centre for International Education.)

Third Pillar: The Provision of a Critical Mass of Quality Professionals and Practitioners

From the references, notes and discussions about the Critical Mass of Quality Professionals and Practitioners, the following perceptions, understandings and assertions were discerned from the focus group:

Development of a Pure Computer Science curriculum
The current curriculum for computer science is geared more towards making graduates employable. The outcome of the education is merely to comply with a set of minimum skills to make a graduate able to operate a computer system. To be able to drive innovation our Computer Science curriculum must evolve from a paradigm of producing graduates with employable skills to a paradigm of developing graduates with raw ideas for basic research, products or building on existing technologies. Currently our universities are not the seats of innovation.

Rationalization of University and Polytechnical education
Universities are supposed to be the environment for general knowledge, for intensive research and a ground for challenging society's conventions. Today our universities are producing caregivers, computer technicians, nurses, marine engineers that are more polytechnical than universal in content and practice. We have to rationalize our course offerings. There must be a way to delineate universal studies from polytechnical courses.

Organize Tracking and Documentation of the Local Human Resource
Since the first summit, the issue and need to track professional knowledge and technical skills have surfaced many times. A serious effort must be initiated to define what will be included in this list, how do we design this system, who will manage it, when do we start the design and infrastructure. Many owners of information and systems may have to sit down to talk about collaboration.

Capability Enhancement of Local Academe
CEDFIT have already started a lot of "firsts" in developing the capability of the academe. There must also be initiatives to develop the entrepreneurial skills of our technologists and build future entrepreneurs in ICT. Many professionals may have to be educated about ICT so they can participate in the growth of the sector. We need intellectual property lawyers specializing on information technology and accountants with appreciation of the business process of high-technology organizations.

Development Initiatives targeting Basic Education
Until recently, the initiatives of special interests groups have never come to the attention of the public. These initiatives have help Basic Education in the form of computer software and hardware, teacher's training, free online service subscriptions and a lot of other support that would have come at a very steep price. There's a need to study these initiatives in the context of scaling up its effectiveness and applications.

Development Initiatives targeting existing workforce and professionals
2010 in the context of the Cebu Strategy is important because this is India's turning point. India will be lifting many of its incentives for foreign direct investments (FDI). As early as now, global companies are already scouting for new sites for its India operations. 2010 is also our target for many of our economic milestones. It is the year that the Philippine government has set for the national ICT agenda. Cebu's challenge is to address our strategic milestones from now until 2010 and from 2010 to 2015. We must address the industry needs now. The business process outsourcing and contact centers are feeling the scarcity of manpower and so is the software development industry. Existing graduates are currently not at par with industry demands. The up take is still very low even with short-term intervention programs. There is something inherently wrong with our higher education curriculum and our basic education. We can no longer address one at the expense of the other.

Enhancement of the scalability of programs of organizations or institutions developing education, entrepreneurial skills or the general pool of the human resources in Cebu
Based on several focus group discussions about the digital divide, education and the enterprise development, there are already existing programs currently being managed by different special interest groups to address different aspects and levels of the issues. The question is: How do we scale up the program so we can implement it across the whole island? We need to integrate and then scale up the capacity of the programs.

Delivery of technology to the rural barangay and teaching communities to use technology to meet local issues
Current programs are already being managed successfully albeit slowly due to issues of logistics. If we can channel existing funding programs to be more focus and more integrated in its priority, we may be able to address the issue of logistics. There are already many corporate social responsibility programs that can fund these programs. All we need to do is convince organizations to re-align existing funding structures to support our prioritized programs.

Increase hard and soft investments in technology for education
We must help the Department of Education and the many special interest groups currently enhancing our basic education to scale up its capacity by investing in the technology. Existing community development programs of foundations and organizations should be aligned so that we can focus on programs identified by our strategic plan to be relevant to our agenda.

Development of professional services like Accounting, Legal, and other consulting services to support technology entrepreneurship
To help small and medium enterprise come up to the level of the global players, it must be able to adopt practices and acquire knowledge from many fields. Currently, very few lawyers and accountants have good understanding of the impact of the E-Commerce Law on business. In the late 1990s very few lawyers can draft a maintenance contract for systems integration, computer network maintenance or even datacenter management. Many textbooks in accounting did not have a template for the chart of accounts of high-technology organizations. Today, very few support services such as accounting and law announce specific specialty in intellectual property, venture capital or investment equity, and other services for technology-driven enterprises. An educational program for these professionals must be launched to create a pool of technology-savvy service professionals.


(The synthesis and materials in the focus group discussions were prepared through the facilities of the Centre for International Education.)

Initial Synthesis of the Online Focus Group Discussions

The online focus group discussion was started to get initial inputs for the summit and to gauge who among the invited stakeholders are willing to participate and contribute to the strategic planning workshop of the 2nd Cebu Information and Communications Technology Summit.

Inputs from live focus group discussions and phoned in feedback was also included in the synthesis because the topics are the same and certain participants have problem getting into the YahooGroups of their interest.

Certain articles or notes chosen or cited by the participants are also included in the synthesis.

Online Focus Group Discussion 1 - First Pillar - Innovation Ecosystem

From the references, notes and discussions about Innovation Ecosystem, the following perceptions, understandings and assertions were discerned from the focus group:

A Geographical Point of Convergence
The innovation ecosystem must be anchored on a specific point of geographical convergence of stakeholders or participants in the ecosystem. This means that there must be a specific area in Cebu that must be developed for this purpose. The direction of real estate development therefore has bearing on the emergence of this geographical point of convergence. We maybe looking the development of large (200+ hectares of land) self-contained communities having malls, commercial centers, banks, leisure areas, planned communities, law enforcement units, government centers, schools with international curriculum, resorts, conventions centers, ICT parks, research facilities, etc.

A Network of Business and Social Interaction
The geographical point of convergence must also be the point where a network of business and social interaction can take place. The location of eating and leisure places must be such that major players in the industry can switch from pure business meetings to more relax social functions without waste of momentum or large blocks of time. This means that travel time between certain sought after ambience must be less than an hour between two points. Certain enterprises or businesses must be able to cater to this need. A regular set of activities or events whether for business or for leisure must be designed to bring the stakeholders in ambience both entertaining and collegial.

Lifestyle Support Systems and Infrastructures
Support systems and infrastructure to support the lifestyle of major players or stakeholders must be developed and maintained. Lifestyle goes beyond good roads, clean water or good supply of energy. The people in this innovation ecosystem must be comfortable, must feel safe, must have choices where they can live or send their kids to school. Innovators need this lifestyle to think, to create, to establish alliances, to deliver the next innovation. We cannot wait for this lifestyle to evolve. We must create them. Build it so they will come.

Educational Institutions with Strong Business and Technology Research
There must be educational institutions or their satellite facilities for business and technology within the self-contained communities. These research programs must be designed to create or to innovate solutions in the form of products or services that solve common human, business and community issues or problems. These institutions should have curricula that must be able to get technology experts to establish a business or a business student to establish a technology enterprise and these enterprises must be able to compete globally. These entrepreneurs must be able to create technology, challenge conventions and "stir" the marketplace.

A Culture for Experimentation and Failure
Entrepreneurs especially startups may fail in their initial attempt in business or launching a product or service. There must be mechanisms to allow these individuals to close shop and start over.

Capital Formation and the Financial Markets
Financials institutions are conservative and may take many more years to be more open to risk. Venture capitalists are good but their focus are on big-ticket investments that practically rule out the entry of small but innovative entrepreneurs. If we cannot encourage big-ticket and conventional sources of finance to take risks we must encourage the growth of non-conventional sources.


Online Focus Group Discussion 2 - Second Pillar - Information Technology Entrepreneurship

From the references, notes and discussions about ITrepreneurship, the following perceptions, understandings and assertions were discerned from the focus group:

Models of Success and Leadership
We must have a way for documenting success stories of entrepreneurs who have competitive successfully in ICT. There are so many ways to do this. We can commission a study and the publication of a book. We can have compilation of business cases or case studies to be use in the local business or technology curricula. Advertising success stories.

Educational Programs for Entrepreneurs
Most of our business and technology programs in the academe are really geared towards creating a mass of employees. Our local paradigm must be the development of the next generation of entrepreneurs. Even if only one percent of each graduating class starts an enterprise every year, the wealth created by that generation will continue to grow in the years to come. Our shift must shift from generation of employees to creation of wealth.

Research for Developing Local IT Enterprises
The aim of research must be to improve the human condition. Our research programs must generate concepts or ideas that solve common human, business and community problems that inhibit wealth or opportunities creation. It must create products and services that business can sell so that it builds an economy.

Business Matching Programs
Although business-matching programs are an integral part of most chamber and trade associations there will always be room for improvements in terms of scale. We may need to consider partnering with global organizations for this purpose.

Offshore Marketing Capability
We have never considered the possibility of combining our resources to come up with a team or an organization that will do marketing for us on a global scale. Partnership with global organizations might just do the trick in this area.

Developing Ancillary Services
Aside from core products, we must be able to develop the capabilities of enterprises who provide ancillary or peripheral support to core products and services. For example, if we have financial institutions planning on selling financial portfolios to enterprises who would like to venture and sell online, we should help these financial institutions develop the capability to provide value-added services in e-commerce through technical support and incentives.

Capital Formation and the Financial Markets
Like always, scalability of operations and starting up an enterprise are still basic challenges that local entrepreneurs have to hurdle. An innovative capital market must be developed and nurtured. One possibility is to enhance the capability of savings and loans cooperatives or lending investor to invest in IT enterprise startups.

Honoring Investors and Contributors to Local Economy
Many companies and mostly global ones are already investing and expanding in Cebu. A program must be instituted probably by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Tourism (DOT) to honor investors, their representatives and officers in a festive ceremony to give them a very warm experience with Cebuanos.

Business Support Services
Business support services and the availability of more streamlined and shorter processing of business registration, permits and documentation will go along way in growing our base of micro-, small and medium enterprises. Serious efforts have already been done towards this end but more transparency and more technology should be put in place.

There's almost two more weeks to go and we have the summit.

Those who participated in the online focus group discussions will get a PDF version of the synthesis.

Strategic Positioning in the Context of the Cebu Silicon Island Vision

The strategic positioning of stakeholders in the context of the initiatives for achieving the "Cebu Silicon Island" vision lies in two (20) major developments: The development happening prior to the actual achievement of goals prior to 2010 and the actual achievement of strategic goals in 2015.

Developments Prior to 2010
Before 2006 ends, the Cebu information and communications technology initiatives will allow the converging of many agenda in one organizational body. The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (CEDFIT) and the Cebu Software Development Industry Association (CebuSoft) will spearhead the creation of an organizational vehicle by the major participants in the 2nd Cebu ICT Summit happening this May 24-26, 2006.

India will be lifting its special incentives given to foreign direct investments in 2010. Prior to that will be a serious scanning of neighboring Asian countries for a new and strategic location for majority of the ICT OEM organizations currently operating in many of the ICT urban centers in India. Many will already be visiting the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. Although, Singapore is still a contender for these organizations, the real estate values prevailing in Singapore will put it in the tail end of the wish list.

Many believe that China will be a converging point for foreign direct investments but many issues are still to be resolved if China will be an attractive site for ICT driven organizations. The only strongest selling point is still labor cost. China however has serious plans for the ICT global economy. Purchases of mission critical servers and the growth of their software development population are growing rapidly annually.

Today Cebu will be feeling the strains of the demand for human resource in an environment where the uptake of the Business Process Outsourcing sector is greater than existing supply. Cebu is not prepared for what is to come. The exciting prospect of ever increasing foreign investment will drive real estate values higher and the perception of growing migration to the island will artificially raise the cost of living. Most definitely, the poor will undoubtedly get poorer and hungrier too. There will be no opportunities in the countryside to halt the fluid migration of agricultural population into the cities. Unemployment will rise probably at the same rate as the number of seats in contact centers.

Our basic education will not be up to the challenge because it will not get any better. The strain of rising costs and low pay for teachers will force the inevitable--a search for job opportunities by public or even private school teachers in the ICT sector or even abroad.

The 2nd Cebu ICT Summit will deliver a blueprint for Cebu's strategic direction against the backdrop of global competition. It will provide focus for many stakeholders in the Telecommunications industry, in high-value competence development providers, for Business Process Outsourcing (specially medical transcriptions and back office operations), in tourism, real estate, and the wellness service providers.

Between 2006 and 2007 the International Standards Organization (ISO) will announce new standards in Social Management Audit for ISO certified organizations. This will force organizations with corporate social responsibility programs to professionalize the management of community-focused social projects. They will now be accountable for the soundness of project management processes and the impact it has on targeted beneficiaries or communities.

Developments in 2015
For the strategic goal of being an ICT hub or for a vision of Cebu Silicon Island to happen the following should be in place:

One or several centers of convergence for ICT players have matured to the extent that academic institutions are spearheading research or working with leading edge companies in product research, development and design within the confines of these centers.

Most development models for rural communities will be conceptualized and managed by academic institutions through their community extension services.

The communities around and within these high-technology urban centers are cosmopolitan lending itself to the meeting of many cultures and intellectual pursuits. Government provides a safe and non-intrusive presence.

Each year, academe is producing graduates that create new breed of entrepreneurs that not only compete profitably against the best global organizations but also manage social development programs comparable to the largest corporate benefactors in the world.

Venture capital will be finding its way into the business projects of graduate and undergraduate school students and creating new or innovative products and services every year. Products and services not only cater to high-end customers but also the poorest communities in the country. Government financial institutions will allow venture capitalists to manage government money to funnel it to small and medium enterprises.

Local ICT companies will be partnering with global organizations like Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Sybase, Red Hat Linux, and others to penetrate European and Asian markets. Our Open Source community will be creating products and services that will serve developing countries and enabling emerging democratic nations to adopt e-governance technologies.

Tourism activity is no longer confined around urban centers and beach resorts but will be geographically dispersed into the countryside using the very culture of these communities as the core of developing value-added products and services to foreign tourists. Wellness services will contribute a major chunk of revenues in tourism.

Graduates from far-flung barangays will be products of curricula that is recognized globally and enable them to compete academically with foreign counterparts. Many of these barangay schools will be managed cost-effectively by not-for-profit or non-government organizations using a globally accepted learning environment.

Communities are no longer dependent on local governments for their development and people's organization are taking pro-active role in local governance. Community cooperatives are competing with large private enterprises on equal terms and in many communities will be the major provider of value-added services to business and even local government.

I don’t know how others look at 2010 or 2015, but from where I am standing now all the above is what I see. What do you think?

Post your comments!

Pillar 1 - The Innovation Ecosystem

The Online Focus Group Discussion is now open. The discussions which was suppose to start April 24, 2006, did not go well as schedule because of the long holiday. Now it's finally up and live.

We are starting off with first pillar of the Silicon Valley Model: The Innovation Ecosystem.

Innovation ecosystem. The concept has two (2) keywords: innovation and ecosystem. Let's define both. According to Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2004:

in·no·va·tion [ìnn? váy sh’n](plural in·no·va·tions)

n 1. origination: the act or process of inventing or introducing something new.

2. new idea or method: something newly invented or a new way of doing things suspicious of fax machines and other technological innovations.

ec·o·sys·tem [éko sìst?m, ?ko sìst?m](plural ec·o·sys·tems) n organisms and their environment: a localized group of interdependent organisms together with the environment that they inhabit and depend on.

Innovation starts with an idea or a thought. An idea or thought always starts on somebody's head, therefore innovation starts with people. The complexity of information and communication technology together with the seemingly evolving convergence of these technologies, naturally requires the relationships and exchanges of people with diverse expertise and knowledge. People however do not churn out ideas in a vaccuum. Even artists have to get some inspiration or some environment within which they derive a vision of their art.

Discussions of creating an Innovation Ecosystem must therefore start with "Who are the people, the players or characters within this ecosystem?" Who should be in this ecosystem? What are the traits of people who will drive this innovation? What competence, experience, educational background or expertise must they have? What institutions will they be coming from or even getting them together?

The other question will be "What constitutes this ecosystem?" What environment will get these people together? What will make them stay there and thrive. We need therefore to discuss places or centers, projects or events, relationships or networks, and even culture. A culture that nurtures excellence, dedication, commitment, failures or mistakes, and risk-taking.

It is important that you have the proper perspective when joining the Online Focus Group discussions. I spent more than three (3) months to find reference materials that will help participants start off the discussions and interaction in the right direction.

You may think that your contributions will stop after the last day of the discussion. It will not. Go to this blogsite or better yet register and subscribe to get updates and post your comments there. Enter your email address in the field on the right side of this page and click "subscribe" to get an email containing the latest posts on this blog site. I may not be able to include your comments in the final discussion but it will surely guide me during the live summit strategic planning workshop. We need everyone's help.

Please always remember that the 2nd Cebu ICT Summit is going to come up with blueprint for Cebu's economic development until 2010 to 2015 it is vital that we get every stakeholder to participate and commit to making the plan happen.

Let's do our homework and do some serious reading. You have a lot to read! Start with the information I prepared below.

Relevant Online FGD Readings:

Economic Development Board - Singapore
Progress in today's rapidly innovating and expansively globalising world requires the readiness to adopt and adapt to new technologies and techniques for greater efficiency and value. Singapore understands the challenges that globalisation, rising Asian economies and local economic maturation bring, and has set a host of initiatives in motion to respond accordingly. These initiatives are the wards of the Economic Development Board - the organisation responsible for the continued economic success of Singapore and the companies on its shores.

Source URL:
http://www.sedb.com/edb/sg/en_uk/index/about_us/edb_investments.html

Global Entreprolis Singapore
Global Entrepolis @ Singapore (GES) is an international marketplace connecting enterprises to funds, markets, partners, and technology. It is a dynamic platform for networking opportunities, where large enterprises, technopreneurial startups and the venture capital community can meet, interact and transact. Each group benefits by leveraging on the others' strengths, and value is created.

Source URL:
http://www.globalentrepolis.com/en/faqs/faqs.html

Singapore takes giant step into bio sciences
By Tony Sitathan
One of the clear tests of attracting more talent into Singapore is to improve its infrastructure conditions. Hence, Singapore has came up with the concept of a biopolis, a city dedicated to biomedical science where there would be interaction among the various research and medical communities from the research institutes of molecular biology, genomics, bioinformatics, bioengineering, bio-processing technology and chemistry.

Source URL:
http://www.atimes.com/se-asia/DF18Ae04.html

Skills That Are Most Welcome
The Government has committed a total of S$7 billion to the third national Science & Technology 2005 (S&T 2005) Plan. This details Singapore's intention to identify and build world-class science and technology capabilities in niche areas, and to strengthen private sector R&D initiatives. The S&T 2005 Plan will see more collaborative partnerships with world-class research organisations and institutions. With the increase in PhD research scientists and engineers, manpower development programmes like the R&D Fellowship Programme will be internationally recognised.

Source URL:
http://www.contactsingapore.org.sg/oppor_research.shtml

Bridging the Digital Divide
By Teresa Peters
Executive Director, Bridges.org
Installing computers and connections in underdeveloped communities is only part of what is needed to put information and communications technology to use for socio-economic development. An understanding of grassroots realities, pooling of resources, and a favorable regulatory system are among the many elements necessary in an effective approach to the digital divide.

Source:
http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/1103/ijge/gj08.htm

EDB – Singapore Economic Development Board
The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) is the lead agency that plans and executes strategies to sustain Singapore as a compelling global hub for business and investment. Set up in 1961, EDB acts as catalyst and facilitator to nurture a vibrant, self-sustaining enterprise ecosystem, creating a conducive environment for startups and companies of all sizes. The Board works closely with other agencies to promote innovation and develop human, intellectual, financial and cultural capital in Singapore.

Source URL:
http://www.edb.gov.sg/edb/sg/en_uk/index/about_us.html

Where should the Philippines build its Silicon Valley environment?
By DENNIS POSADAS
Consultant UP Ayala Technology Business Incubator
Cebu is very gung-ho on developing itself as an IT hub. I had the pleasure of visiting Cebu a few weeks ago. Its laid back vacation type atmosphere can serve to enable the phrase "work hard, but party hard". Of all the local government groups that I have met, Cebu seems to be the most determined to implement the Silicon Valley concept. If Cebuanos can beef up their universities (like University of San Carlos, UP, etc.) and tap their expatriate community, they can achieve great strides in certain niche areas.

Source URL:
http://itmatters.com.ph/columns.php?id=peso_092605

Singapore takes giant step into bio sciences
By Tony Sitathan
The biopolis is to be built on 90 hectares of land and it will feature dedicated new buildings, the first of which are due to open next year. It will be designed to house between 20,000 and 30,000 scientists for work, and for about 1,000 residents. There are plans to make the biopolis completely self-contained with apartments, schools, shops and entertainment, and even a monorail to transport residents.

Source URL:
http://www.atimes.com/se-asia/DF18Ae04.html

Building An Asian Silicon Valley Ecosystem
For many...countries, the key driver of economic development was innovation. In South Korea, innovation was applied first to traditional industries and now to semiconductors. In Taiwan, it was initially applied to personal computer accessories and now to contract wafer fabrication. In Singapore it was applied to contract electronics and semiconductor manufacturing.

Source URL:
http://www.ey.com/global/download.nsf/Philippines/SGV_Review_June_2005/$file/sgvreview_june05.pdf

Can Cebu Foster a High-Tech Cluster?
By Michael Alan Hamlin
February 26, 2001
No one knows for sure how to foster a high-tech industrial cluster. In fact, no government or private-sector consortium has ever strategically intended to develop an industrial cluster of any kind and actually succeeded. Instead, industrial clusters tend to develop when all the ingredients of the particularly appropriate soup are in place, sort of like some theories of natural creation. What we do know about high-tech cluster evolution is that like most evolutionary processes, it’s messy, and chaotic. We also know that at the center of the process are heavyweight educational institutions that attract — but frequently fail to retain — very bright people. They leave to start fulfilling their visions, but still draw on the pool of bright people they leave behind. While there are other ingredients to the evolutionary soup that produces high-tech clusters, they seem to be drawn together by intellectual excellence manifest in innovative ideas with apparently practical application.

Source URL:
http://www.teamasia.com/media/2001/02262001.htm

Information and Governance in the Silicon Valley Model
Masahiko Aoki
October 1999
This paper argues that the truly unique role of venture capitalists is found in their information-mediating and governance functions, which can be understood only in the context of relationships between the "clustering" of entrepreneurial firms and (a club) of venture capitalists. The entrepreneurial firms in Silicon Valley compete in innovation and thus their activities are fundamentally substitutes. Therefore, their information processing activities need to be encapsulated from each other to excel competitors. A new product system may be then evolutionarily formed by combining modular products ex post that evolve from such decentralized efforts. In order for such evolutionary selection is possible, however, common standards for interfaces among modular products need to be provided to make individual product attributes compatible. Venture capitalists plays an important role in mediating information necessary for endogenously forming and governing competition among entrepreneurs under such framework. The first section assembles stylized facts about venture capital - entrepreneurial firm relationships as a basis for modeling. The second section presents a framework for comparing information systemic aspects of alternative R&D organizations and tries to understand the unique innovation capability of the Silicon Valley model. The third section then proceeds to the analysis of the venture capital governance as an institution for supporting such information system. Repeated tournaments among initially funded firms for refinancing necessary for the completion of projects, and the threat of termination of financial support by the venture capitalist, are seen to provide greater incentives for the entrepreneurs than under traditional arms length financing. The fourth section discusses the incentives of the venture capitalist and other institutional characteristics of the Silicon Valley model.

Source URL:
http://www-econ.stanford.edu/faculty/workp/swp99028.pdf

==========================================================

To join the focus group discussions, please subscribe to:

fgd1-innovationecosystem-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Please send your reactions and discussions to:

fgd1-innovationecosystem@yahoogroups.com

==========================================================


Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2004 and Microsoft® is a trademark and tradename of Microsoft Corporation.

The Online Focus Group Discussions

The Online Focus Group Discussions are divided into four (4) distinct groups corresponding to the Four (4) Pillars of the Silicon Valley Model. Prior to the start of each group, a guide on the content, process and moderation will be sent to you via email. Each group will also have its own schedule which will take at least three (3) days with specific intervals. The discussions will start on a Monday ending on a Wednesday. The synthesis of that group's discussion will be broadcast via email and via blog on the Monday of the following week. This will become a material for the Focus Group Discussion on that week and so on until the last Focus Group Discussion is synthesized. All these discussions will be consolidated in one document that will be broadcast via email and via blog. This material shall also be distributed to the participants of the Live Summit Workshops.


Pillar 1 - Innovation Ecosystem (April 24 - April 26, 2006 09:00 - 11:00 a.m.)

in·no·va·tion [ìnn? váy sh’n](plural in·no·va·tions)
n 1. origination: the act or process of inventing or introducing something new

2. new idea or method: something newly invented or a new way of doing things suspicious of fax machines and other technological innovations ec·o·sys·tem [éko sìst?m, ?ko sìst?m](plural ec·o·sys·tems) n organisms and their environment: a localized group of interdependent organisms together with the environment that they inhabit and depend on.

Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2004. © 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Innovation starts with an idea or a thought. An idea or thought always starts on somebody's head, therefore innovation starts with people. The complexity of information and communication technology together with the seemingly evolving convergence of these technologies, naturally requires the relationships and exchanges of people with diverse expertise and knowledge. People however do not churn out ideas in a vaccuum. Even artists have to get some inspiration or some environment within which they derive a vision of their art.

Discussions of creating an Innovation Ecosystem must therefore start with "Who are the people, the players or characters within this ecosystem?" Who should be in this ecosystem? What are the traits of people who will drive this innovation? What competence, experience, educational background or expertise must they have? What institutions will they be coming from or even getting them together?

The other question will be "What constitutes this ecosystem?" What environment will get these people together? What will make them stay there and thrive. We need therefore to discuss places or centers, projects or events, relationships or networks, and even culture. A culture that nurtures excellence, dedication, commitment, failures or mistakes, and risk-taking.

Please subscribe to this Online Focus Discussion:
fgd1-innovationecosystem-subscribe@yahoogroups.com


Pillar 2 - Technology Entrepreneurship (May 1 – May 3, 2006 09:00 - 11:00 a.m.)

You will get a formal introduction about this person we call the entrepreneur in your basic management class and your introduction to economics. Both subjects consider the role of the entrepreneur as essential in driving business and the economy.

Entrepreneurs are individuals who are always seeking out and taking on the challenge of responding to change. They are risk takers but not the wanton kind but the kind that take "calculated risks".

For Cebu to be an ICT hub, we need people deeply immersed in ICT to be entrepreneurs. We need technological builders to be business builders who deliver technology innovation into the marketplace. Technology innovators create products and services with value to the global market.

They generate profit and their profit growth must be sustained to generate jobs and improve the quality of life here in Cebu.

We have to ask these questions:

• How do we generate a mass of "home-grown" technology entrepreneurs?How do we bring successful technology entrepreneurs to Cebu?
• How do we help those technology entrepreneurs who are starting up?
• How do we convince those "technology geniuses" to be entrepreneurs?
• What programs should we implement to create the environment to bring or nurture technology entrepreneurs to Cebu?
• What support systems must we put up or invest in?
• Do we even have a list of these technology entrepreneurs?
• How do we identify these technology entrepreneurs?

Please subscribe to this Online Focus Discussion:
fgd2-itrepreneurship-subscribe@yahoogroups.com


Pillar 3 The provision for a Critical Mass of Quality Professionals and Practitioners (May 8 – May 10, 2006 09:00 - 11:00 a.m.)

Even before the first Cebu Information Technology Summit, the issue of building the critical mass of human resource was at the forefront of the summit discussions. Today with the new competence, skills and knowledge requirement in the IT and IT-enabled sectors, the critical mass of human resource will play an even more important component of Cebu's journey to being an ICT hub.

But are we really talking about just the human resource directly involved in managing and creating products and services for IT and IT-enabled organizations? Entrepreneurs will need managers and supervisors, they will need good communicators, and specialized technologists for fabrication and instrumentation.

We need inventors. We need patent or intellectual property lawyers. We need accountants and financial analysts specializing in IPO and valuation of intellectual property and technology. Not only do we need technicians who can repair and maintain computers, we need professionals who can design and build IT infrastructures. Our software development industry need not only software designers and writers, they need system integrators, process development consultants, project managers, and product development managers.

In the business and finance areas, we need business and strategic planning facilitators, venture capital consultants, service portfolio managers, marketing consultants, Internet business consultants, and real estate developers.

Our educational system needs innovative strategies to achieve real improvements in basic education to improve our children's comprehension and communication. Our higher education must evolve from creating a mass of future employees to creating a generation of entrepreneurs and technologists creating value-added products and services for the global market.

A deliberate program must be instituted to increase our mass of PhDs and develop a crop of PhDs working for corporations or starting enterprises.

We should ask ourselves the following questions:

• How do we build the critical mass of not only ICT professionals but all the needed human resource
  for our innovation ecosystem?Are there other alternatives aside from academe to build the critical mass of professionals and practitioners in Cebu?
• Is there a way to deliberately create and nurture a society of inventors and innovators?
• How can we build social organizations geared towards creativity, inventiveness and innovation?
• Are our trade and professional associations geared towards supporting the ICT agenda? (Examples: PICPA, PICE, IBP, etc.)
• Do we have programs to bring Filipino entrepreneurs and technologists back to Cebu to form an integral part of our human resource or to stimulate the development of our human resource.

Please subscribe to this Online Focus Discussion:
fgd3-peoplemass-subscribe@yahoogroups.com


Pillar 4 Legal and Financial Framework (May 15 – May 17, 2006 09:00 - 11:00 a.m.)

There's no doubt that government cannot extend assistance to the private sector without a mandate defined by law. Our ability to move within our innovation ecosystem and our economy is hinge on the environment that our national and local laws provide.

Tax and investment incentives even financial access is almost absolutely defined by our fiscal policies, investment and banking laws. The creation of our organizations and the ability of organizations to expand are encouraged or limited by our laws.

Our vision to expand beyond our shores to enter into global markets will force us not only to deal with our national laws but also the laws of the country we intend to trade with and intervening international laws and conventions.

We have to ask ourselves:

• What laws will help us take advantage of opportunities?
• What laws will enhance our capability to penetrate the global market?
• What laws will help build and nurture our innovation ecosystem, build the critical mass of professionals and practitioners, and create a generation of technology entrepreneurs?
• What laws or portions of such laws inhibit our Agenda?
• What laws do we need to pass or portions of the laws we need to amend to push our Cebu ICT Agenda or the National ICT Agenda?
• What mechanisms and programs will enable stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem to participate in the legislation process to frame pragmatic and relevant laws to further our ICT Agenda?

Please subscribe to this Online Focus Discussion:
fgd4-legal-financial-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Is the Silicon Valley Model the only Model?

The good thing about doing research prior to a facilitating engagement is that you get to understand that most of the issues you thought to be new aren't actually new and not only that, you find out that you're not the only one getting into the same discussions. There is actually some discussions about the Silicon Valley in Australia. If you just disregard who's talking, you'd think we're actually talking to the same people here.

You can go browse their discussions here:
http://abc.net.au/science/wings/episode2.htm

A paper by Masahiko Aoki done in Stanford University dissected the phenomenon he called Silicon Valley Model and how the dynamics work in Silicon Valley. This is also interesting reading. You can download the paper from the URL below:
http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/dps/dps2002/dp2002-11.pdf

Another paper "Information and Governance in the Silicon Valley Model" can supplement Masahiko Aoki's paper above. Go to this URL:
http://www-econ.stanford.edu/faculty/workp/swp99028.pdf

In his book, "Rice Bowl & Chips", Dennis Posadas looking at Asian adaptation of the Silicon Valley Model has pointed out eight (8) rules that seem to apply to make the model work:

1. There must be a critical mass of brilliant engineers and scientists, venture capital, key suppliers and other players needed in technology venture formation.
2. There must be a university or research institute that does research and development at par with the rest of the world, and publishes and/or patents its results to gain recognition for its achievements.
3. There must be stories of successful entrepreneurs that are handed down from generation to generation.
4. Culture is an important key to innovation.
5. Proximity is very important.
6. Those living abroad and at home must organize themselves to exchange ideas regularly, help mentor startups, and help with policy.
7. A good financial and legal framework for startups should be available.
8. Realize that failure is an important learning opportunity.

The book is a good starting point of any discussion on the Silicon Valley Model. I really hope Dennis Posadas can make it to the summit to talk more about the model. You should get a copy of his book. I bought 3 copies.

The Silicon Valley Model

Since last year, when the working group on the ICT Summit started meeting, the keywords "Silicon Valley" have been floating around our discussions in the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry led by Clarito "Lito" Fruelda. It was Bonifacio "Boni" Belen, Executive Director of the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology or CEDFIT that came out with a paper and a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation to explain to the group all about this Silicon Valley Model.

According to Boni Belen, the Silicon Valley model seem to have four (4) significant components to work he refers to as "pillars" of the model. To get the exact perspective of Boni I'm going to quote his concept paper here:

(Start of quote)

Pillar 1 - The creation of an Innovation Ecosystem
Innovation is a major driving force behind economic success. Innovation happens within an "ecosystem" that promotes and enables R&D to find its way to the marketplace.For Cebu to aim at long-term sustainability in ICT, innovation has to be at the heart of the endeavor with our IT Parks (Asia Town, for example) taking center stage in such undertaking.

Pillar 2 - The promotion of a Culture for Technology Entrepreneurship
Technologists need much encouragement to make the decision to enter into business. Beyond this step, moreover, the "incubation" of their ideas, mentorship from business experts, and partnership form venture capitalists, has to be within "real" reach. Cebu has the potential of reaping an abundance of technology entrepreneurs within the next
decade, but only if we succeed (through CebuSoft, for instance) in "incubating" these people and start-up companies.

Pillar 3 -The provision of a Critical Mass of Quality Professionals and Practitioners
Aspiring to develop technology start-ups necessarily requires that there be a critical mass of competent ICT professionals and practitioners - from engineers, to teachers with postgraduate degrees, to scientists, highly skilled technicians, etc., sustaining the needs of these technology business. The quantity and quality of such professionals and practitioners currently available, as well as the stream of graduates from Cebu's educational institutions, have to be increased; by sustaining, and making more effective and wider in scope, the interventions already put in motion by CEDF-IT (and the Cebu Computer Society) in the last four years.

Pillar 4 - The availability of Legal and Financial Framework (with the Provincial IT Council)
Technology venture formation calls for unambiguous Intellectual Property Laws, availability of IP lawyers, accountants and assessors for fair financial valuation, and adequate legal framework for venture capital. For Cebu to give birth, or lend support, to existing innovation-based companies that have no collateral except for their ideas and intellectual property, it is essential that the legal and financial framework be made definite and available (through the leadership of the Provincial IT Council perhaps).

(End of Quote)

Caesar Atienza, Consultant to the Office of the Provincial Governor, had an interesting question then: "Is Silicon Valley the only model?"

In the last several months doing research on each of the 4 pillars of the Silicon Valley Model, I found out that there is much information in different forms and model adapted by countries like Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, People's Republic of China via Hong Kong and of course India. And in my own perspective Singapore seems to come close to us in terms of business model and geographical affinity. A lot of the materials for the coming summit are in fact coming from the Singapore experience not because I have bias for Singapore but because many studies and materials available over the web provides more meaningful information about Singapore than any country.

Even those studies conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia and The Netherlands by both government and academe use Singapore as a case study. Don't be surprise if much of the URL I will be providing in the Online Focus Group Discussions will lead you to a Singapore website or a case study about Singapore.

Back to the question: "Is the Silicon Valley Model the only model we can work on?"

From what I have discerned in the materials at hand and available on the web, there is actually another model for development: The High Technology Urban Centers of Europe. The only thing different in Europe is that most high technology urban centers evolved because of the success stories of the pharmaceutical industry and the growth of medical and bio-technology research.

Europe will continue to lead in this area in the coming years and after starting off with the Silicon Valley Model, Singapore is starting to look at this model for their future and so does India. India in fact hosted a conference specifically tackling the issues on the growth of high technology urban centers. India is trying to get their finger on what will be the best model from the many presentations that will be made in this conference for their own development.

For Cebu Island, it cannot look at the European model for two obvious reasons: First, Cebu is going for ICT as a strategy for its development together with Tourism; and, second, Cebu or the Philippines for that matter is a long way off to be in the map of locations for medical and pharmaceutical research. Medical and pharmaceutical research has not faired well in the financial markets because of its low success or breakthroughs. The US has not been doing well in this area because many of the companies into production and research in this field do not have good business fundamentals to show for almost a decade now.

I rather not go into a drawn out discussions about the second reason because it is frutstrating and does not add to knew knowledge for all of us ICT stakeholders who are digging in and looking for solutions. Now my perpsective on the 4 pillars of the Silicon Valley model. I will be discussing each of the pillars in my next blogs.

The First Cebu Information Technology Summit: Looking Back

The 2nd Cebu Information and Communications Technology Summit will be happening this May 24-26, 2006. Prior to this summit is a series of Online Focus Group Discussions. Some of those participating may have been a delegate in the first summit while others may not have an idea or recollection of what the first summit was all about.

As the Summit Workshop Manager I believe that everybody must understand what we are doing now by looking back to March 2001.


Brief Background
The Cebu Information Technology Summit or Cebu IT Summit was an offshoot of Cebu’s desire to find a niche in a country suffering from several economic setbacks in the past years.

As per the National Economic Development Authority or NEDA profile of Cebu, it has an ideal set of resources to take the initiative. It has enough telecommunications, sea/air transport facilities, human resources and other resources to sustain its growth.

The Office of the Mayor of Cebu City and the Cebu Investment Promotion of Cebu commissioned Team Asia, an event organizer and marketing consulting firm, to conceptualize, plan and implement an IT summit to get the stakeholders together to set a vision and plan a strategic course of action to define Cebu as an IT Hub of the country if not of Asia.


Information Technology Workgroups
In preparation for the summit, working groups were formed from different sectors to define the content and scope of the summit. A series of meetings and smaller workshops were conducted to define general areas of concern to be covered in the summit.

These work groups were formed by the Steering Committee of the Cebu IT Summit headed by Caesar Atienza of the Cebu Investment Promotion Center.

It was decided that several pre-summit workshops should be conducted under each area of concern to determine what major issues will be taken up in the summit itself.

Eventually it was decided that all workshops be held simultaneously or done in a series of several days. Team Asia played a key role in putting the machinery in action for the pre-summit and actual IT summit.

Team Asia is not a member of the Steering Committee.Team Asia was commissioned to complete the final phase of the pre-summit preparation by managing the three-day Pre-Summit Workshop.


Pre-summit Workshops
The pre-summit workshop was done in February 26, 27 and 28, 2001, at Toledo & Danao Rooms of Holiday Plaza Hotel, F. Ramos Street, Cebu City, Philippines.

The Pre-Summit Workshop is a preparatory activity for the Cebu Information Technology Summit. The three-day activity covered Human Resource, Infrastructure, and Policy & Incentives.

Team Asia group for Cebu City headed by Ms. Doris Mongaya managed the pre-summit workshop process for Cebu Investment & Promotions Center. The Information Technology SummitThe Cebu IT Summit was held at the Ballroom of the Cebu City Marriott Hotel on March 29 & 30, 2001.

The Summit’s objectives are as follows:

• To take stock of the state of the IT sector in Cebu vis-a-vis the rest of the country and the world.
• To agree on a common vision and program of action that will enhance the position of Cebu as a preferred investment destination for IT and IT-related industries.
• To agree on a mechanism that will advance the program of action for enhancing the position of Cebu as a preferred investment destination for IT industries.

Vision
To establish Cebu as an IT Hub in the Country and In Asia by making or establishing:

• Cebu as the most IT investment-friendly island in the country.
• Cebu as the central IT knowledge and competence center in the country.
• A robust local economy with small and medium scale enterprises providing primary and intermediate knowledge-based products and services to local and foreign customers.
• Cebu with the most electronically interconnected local government community and web-enabled public sector in the country.
• Cebu with a strong base of IT practitioners and professionals in terms of both quality and quantity to support intermediate and value-added products, services and processes.

Program of Action

1. Institute mechanism to gather and monitor baseline data covering existing student population, graduates, deployment, indices of career and current job opportunities related to the different niches in the IT sector.


2. Undertake joint research among academe, government and industry to establish local and worldwide trends in the use and deployment of IT to be able to identify opportunities; design, plan and implement programs; lobby in support of and participate in legislation to draft a new law or amend an existing one, initiate representation to strengthen or support existing policies and legislation, improve inter-agency cooperation and coordination.


3. Institute standards, protocols, indices to benchmark the quality and quantity of both programs and graduates focusing on training/educational program design, trainor/instructor's training design, identification of employable skills, level/quality of competence, joint academe-industry programs, and accreditation criteria for training programs/organizations.


4. Establish a critical mass of IT professional and practitioners by encouraging the formal academic institution, business organizations and commercial training organizations to contribute a proportionate share of graduates or trainees year after year through scholarships, undergraduate, graduate, bridging and on-the-job training/apprenticeship programs.


5. Local government must shift from being a passive player to being a proactive user of the technology and a customer for small and medium IT enterprises by instituting policies that outsource projects to local enterprises, encourage the design and implementation of web-enabled services, and support interconnection of offices and other local government units through the Internet.


6. Continue successful programs that encourage the use and deployment of IT, and design mechanisms to institutionalize and make it more pervasive to the greater portion of Cebu's society.


7. Establish institutional support for the IT Agenda by creating an IT Center, an Information Clearing House and a One Stop Business Processing Center to help in the conceptualization, design, plan and implementation of mechanisms to operationalize all of the above proposed program of action.


8. Power utilities must continue to work on improving the quality of power and find better approaches to managing power distribution.

On the last day, the Vision and Program of Action was announced by then Honorable Mayor Alvin B. Garcia, Mayor of Cebu City.

(The above notes were derived from the original transcripts of the workshops during the Cebu IT Summit. I was the Lead Facilitator managing all the workshop processes.)