DOST commits to upgrade Phl to a “smarter country”

CEBU, Philippines - Adopting the “Smarter Philippines” concept, the country is seen to strengthen its grip as one of the best performing economies in the Asia-Pacific in the long term.

This is the commitment made by Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Assistant Secretary Alejandro Melchor during the opening of the two-day ICT-BPO Conference hosted by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) as one of the main highlights of the Cebu Business Month (CBM 2013).

In his speech, Melchor made a promise that the government is serious in converting the Philippines into a smarter country, through information and communication technology platform.

Smart Philippines program describes that a smart city or province "provides an ecosystem where all parts of society are doing something smart or efficient by capitalizing on technology.

Melchor said the country’s smart city program is patterned after the European Union and is a strategy developed by some countries to host big international events.

The United Kingdom, China and Brazil developed smart cities in preparation for the hosting of the Summer Olympics and the World Cup.

The DOST executive added that a smarter city is the answer to most government priorities of job creation, poverty alleviation and growth in investments.

The six core areas of the Smarter Philippines program include smarter government, smarter economy, smarter environment, smarter mobility, smarter living and smarter people.

"A smarter city, for instance, needs an intelligent operations center or a single room for all government agencies to receive information and form a unified response," he said.

This is why IBM Chief Technologist and Client Technology Adviser Lope Doromal Jr. stressed that the local government units (LGUs) play an important role to the success of the creation of a smarter city.

Dormal said the city mayors and administrators must become smart if they want to provide innovation, investments, a sense of community and a level of sustainability for their citizens.

He said LGUs are now investing in closed-circuit television cameras, which come in handy when analyzing incidents.

Two years ago,  IBM executives came to Cebu to work in teams with city planners, entrepreneurs, business leaders and governmental agencies to develop road maps that identify the best ideas, most scalable solutions and critical steps in the economic, social and environmental sustainability of cities here.

These top IBM executives raised the need to address key issues Cebu Province is facing in the areas of land use planning and zoning, transport and traffic management, increased flash floods and worsening traffic , which hinder economic development.

Melchor said that the government has already identified the priority cities that will take the lead in implementing smarter platform. These are the ten cities being considered to host different events of the upcoming APEC Summit in 2015.

He said that by pursuing Smarter Philippines concept, the country is seen to sustain its grip in the growth path, establishing strong foundation on the inclusive growth strategy.

The ten areas which the Asian-Pacific Economic Council Summit committee has identified to host the activities are Manila,  Cebu City, Clark, Subic, Tagaytay City, Boracay, Iloilo City, Bacolod City, Legazpi City and Davao City.

"Now we have a window of opportunity for the country to achieve economic growth and development for 20 years all in five years and we can do even more with ICT," said Melchor.

The Philippines, he said, should stand on its ground and prove the world’s impression and outlook that it has become the new tiger economy in Asia.

One of the most powerful enablers in sustaining the Philippines’ stronger economic journey and positive impression from the global community is to immediately adopt the Smarter Philippines concept, a platform originally pushed by technology giant IBM.

"We need to use ICT and science and technology in their (smart cities) processes that will help achieve efficiency. For the public sector, we are looking to provide tools, services and infrastructure that will help our people grow," said Melchor. /JMD (FREEMAN)