Living in Silicon Valley, California during the mid-90s was a revelation of sorts. I had just moved from Austin, Texas, having lived there for the past eight years working in the semiconductor design industry. I recall the striking disparity in home prices between Austin and the Bay area; little did I know the “cost of living disparity” was but a prelude to the subsequent Internet technology boom of the late-90s.
It was also during the early 90s that a new Filipino expatriate organization took root in the Bay area.
This organization was born out of the USENET threads on Filipino culture and government in the early 90s. Given the existing connections made via the fledgling USENET and snail mail systems, this organization attracted the current generation of Filipino technical literati into a loose network of like-minded expatriates. These were exciting times, and now that I was in the “valley” I could finally connect with the core members of this organization.
The organization was aptly called the “Brain Gain Network” founded by Dr. Paco Sandejas and Dr. Marc Loinaz, both of whom were well into their doctorate studies in electrical engineering at the time.
The BGN is a non-profit organization, established to bring and keep Filipino professionals and students abroad in touch with the technology developments in the Philippines. It was founded as an enabling organization in order to attract Balik-scientists to the country, connect like-minded entrepreneurs, promote concourse between its members and technology organizations in the Philippines, and bring about success stories in the Philippine technology sector. The BGN database is composed of local and foreign Filipino expatriates in the technology industry, veterans and academics alike. The BGN currently has 1,424 members, 50 mentors, 33 apprentices and 51 institutions in its database. The organization has been collaborating with organizations that have similar objectives like Ayala Foundation in the Philippines and STAC-SFO in Silicon Valley to organize more networking events and to grow the online membership of the network.
Currently, Dr. Sandejas is a well-known venture capitalist in the Philippines. His company, Narra Ventures (www.narravc.com), is among the few technology investment companies in the country. Narra invests in local and foreign technology companies and works closely with US-based Tallwood Ventures (www.tallwoodvc.com) run out of Palo Alto, by technologist, entrepreneur and investor Diosdado Banatao.
The BGN organization’s semiconductor get-togethers/summits are less frequent given the geographic distance of its various participants, but the gatherings are always insightful. This year we had a few speakers from academia and industry. Speeches were given on hardware bandwidth enhancing techniques in the networking industry, advance technology pathfinding methods in the semiconductor industry — “looking at the more than Moore axis” — and advanced low power techniques in academia. UC Berkley in particular was represented by Louis Alarcon, who is currently on leave from the UP Diliman faculty, completing his doctorate studies at UC Berkley under Dr. Jan Rabeay. The techniques described by Mr. Alarcon were relevant to all mobile applications and applicable to all semiconductor products. Also in attendance were Tallwood managing partner Diosdado Banatao and representatives of the UP Diliman faculty (CS Department chairman Cedric Festin, EEE associate professor Joel Marciano, et al), Ateneo de Manila’s incubator project “Blue Chip Designs” (CEO Rasula Reyes, et. al.), Mapua Institute of Technology (EEE Dean Felicito S. Caluyo), Ayala Foundation (senior manager Michi Barcelon), IMI Inc. (CEO Arthur Tan and CP architect Jay Sabido), First Philippine Holdings Corp. (managing director Dan Lachica), Webcast Technologies Inc. (COO Bernie Abis), Business World (journalist Dennis Posadas), and government agencies DOST (Darwin Santos and Nelson Beniabon) and BOI (division chief Eries Cagatan), among others. Discussions ranged from presentation questions to current projects within the various groups in attendance, to the government’s role in educating aspiring engineers and scientists and in proliferating a Silicon Valley culture within the country and within the PEZA zones.
Direction and encouragement came from the private sector championed by Tallwood managing partner Diosdado Banatao, particularly on ongoing projects in the academia. However, all agreed that formidable challenges lay ahead in the education and retention of critical engineers and scientists in the technology sector. And BGN’s purpose is ever more relevant during this new information and technology age — characterized by instant communication and global competition. (To learn more about the Brain Gain Network, visit www.bgn.org.
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Lew Chua is currently an advanced technology director engaged in the development and design of IP and technologies for the cellular and mobile market. He can be reached at lewchua@gmail.