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?
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