Schools told to strengthen IT programs

CEBU, Philippines - In order for Cebu to produce more world-class software developers, the academe must strengthen its I.T. programs especially in mobile and web applications.

Winston Damarillo, a successful global technology entrepreneur who is   helping Filipinos succeed in the international technology field, said that Cebu is seen to leverage in both mobile and web applications and that talents should be given support, encourage them to introduce their brilliant ideas to the commercial market.

Damarillo said most of the good talents are being taken advantage of by multi-national companies. This is not bad but if Cebu were to position itself as the next “Silicon Valley,” it has to develop its own identity by producing innovations that will credit the Cebuano talents.

For this reason, Damarillo, together with other successful Filipino global technology entrepreneurs, non-profit group Philippine Development Foundation (PhilDev) and the Developers Connect Philippines (DevCon), conceptualized the “Hack-to-Hatch” program to jump start the discovery of technology inventors in the Philippines.

He said the program has intensified its presence in Cebu to identify the good talents here whose concepts and brilliant innovations have huge potential for the world’s commercial landscape.

Damarillo believes that the Philippines is ready to compete in the software development dimension in technology. It just need to strengthen its support to start-up software developers and engineers.

In a separate interview, Cebu Educational Development for Information Technology (Cedfit) president Greg Gabison said that most schools in Cebu are now developing sophisticated programs to trailblaze with the fast moving technology industry.

In fact, Gabison said that Cebu is now positioning to lead the development of more Android applications, as the academe wants to make the province the center of mobile apps development in the country.

Gabison, who is also the dean for University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R) College of Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT), said that one of the most active universities that is now pushing to develop more Android-applications is USJ-R.

At present, the university is doing research project in Sugar CRM (Customer Relationship Management 2) using the Android application, while other colleges and universities are also developing their own niche in mobile applications. (FREEMAN)