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Friday, June 24, 2005
5-year plan launched for software industry
By Aurelia l. Castro
Sun.Star Correspondent
THE Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) and the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have hatched a five-year plan to boost the growth of the Philippine software sector.
In line with this, five priorities have been identified.
These are to increase the domestic demand for software products and services, develop skilled software professionals, increase software exports, improve intellectual property compliance and build infrastructure for industry growth.
“This project is the result of the inputs from many industries, software associations from Manila, Cebu, Davao, and representatives from the academe, government and other agencies,” said Fermin Taruc, president of the PSIA, in a press conference last Wednesday during the opening of the 1st International Conference and Exhibition on Business and ICT at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.
“Based on our study, we discussed the factors that are relevant to the Philippines and came up with a project called Fly High: Philippine Software 2010,” he said.
Within a five-year period, Fly High: Philippine Software 2010 seeks to have 50 software development companies aligned with international quality standards.
“It is because we want to be known as more than just a provider of low-cost services but also of international quality,” said Taruc.
“We also see operations of 50 foreign-based software companies in the Philippines because we want technology transfer and employment generation for Filipinos,” he added.
Fly High also aims to employ 100,000 software workers and support improved recruitment, retooling and retention.
Commissioner Dondi Mapa of the Commission on ICT said: “We are close to our employment generation of 134,250 target for 2005 for the ICT sector. As of the end of May, we already have a count of 132,000 jobs in the ICT sector. We already have 28,000 software developers in the country.”
An annual 10 percent increase in government software investment and three percent increase in intellectual property compliance for software are also targeted.
“We want to encourage local software product developers to come up with innovative products,” Taruc said.
(June 24, 2005 issue)
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