5th NICP National ICT Summit to launch ‘Smarter City’ campaign

MANILA, Philippines - Envisioning fully sustainable and developed locations for the ICT-BPO industries, the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP) will launch the “Smarter City/Countryside” campaign during the 5th NICP National ICT Summit on Nov. 22–23 in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

In partnership with the local government of Sta. Rosa and the Laguna Industry Network for Knowledge, Innovation and Technology Foundation (LINK-IT), this year’s summit seeks to promote countrywide ICT industry development using the concept of building smarter cities to attract balanced progress to transform the whole Philippines into a globally competitive provider for global services.

“The concept of the smarter city is to develop a whole ecosystem that will promote the use of ICT in the development of BPO companies,” LINK-IT chairman Tony del Carmen said.

“That would mean not only providing the infrastructure but also making sure that talent development is aligned with the needs of the industry, that local government incentives are provided, and that real estate developers in the area are also cognizant of that development so that accordingly they can develop their sub-sectors, that is, the commercial sectors,” Del Carmen added.

In line with the campaign, the host city of Sta. Rosa is already positioning itself by developing into a smarter city.

As the site of various semiconductor industries as well as car manufacturing companies, Sta. Rosa has previously been dubbed as the Silicon Valley or the Detroit of the Philippines.

Major academic institutions are also moving in to Metro Laguna in addition to its current slate of universities and colleges such as La Salle, Xavier, UST, STI, Lyceum, and Letran.

“The biggest hurdle of the ICT industry right now is talent development and that is where Sta. Rosa and Laguna are a little bit different,” said Del Carmen. “If you will look at the demographics, Calabarzon has more population than the National Capital Region.”

This year’s summit will also hold the first eGov Awards for local government units called the “Jesse Robredo Award of Excellence in ICT for Good Governance” in honor of the late Interior and Local Government secretary who was instrumental in initiating a nationwide search recognizing LGUs who have actively embraced the concept of using ICT in promoting good governance.

Two of the main awards to be given are the Best in eGov Customer Empowerment (G2C) Award, for an LGU’s significant contribution to the practice of applying ICT solutions in educating and engaging the public in the use of electronic facilities geared toward improving the delivery of public services, and Best in eGov Business Empowerment (G2B) Award, for an LGU’s laudable contribution to integrating ICT solutions and the administration’s commitment in the bureau’s responsiveness to the needs of business enterprises.