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Thursday, March 23, 2006
Summit opens next week, to focus on establishing Cebu as ICT hub
The second Cebu ICT Strategy Summit will bring all information and communications technology (ICT) stakeholders in Cebu “to make certain that all the essential ingredients in transforming Cebu into an ICT hub” are in place, summit officials said.
“It is designed to be a focused effort by the ICT stakeholders of Cebu from all sectors, the academe, industry, government, and civil society, to map out the blueprint of each and every sector in a coordinated and concerted manner,” said Bonifacio Belen, summit executive director.
Kickoff
The summit, with the theme: “Defining the tasks ahead for a united Cebu,” is a three-month event that will kick off Wednesday next week. It also includes a tour of Silicon Valley in San Jose, California in April.
Summit sessions in May will focus on the four pillars of the Silicon Valley model, which will establish Cebu as an ICT hub.
These pillars are: provision of quality professionals and practitioners, availability of legal and financial framework, creation of an innovation ecosystem and promotion of a culture for technology entrepreneurship, Belen said.
“We should promote a culture of creativity and technology entrepreneurship. We want our ICT people not just to look for jobs but to be on their own and create jobs,” he said.
Blueprint
At the end of the summit, the Cebu Silicon Island Roadmap and the blueprint of Cebu ICT for the next five years will be presented, he said.
Some 100 participants are expected to come, he told Sun.Star Cebu.
“In the past and even after the first ICT Summit, there were so many initiatives in the ICT scene. We thought we need to have a concerted effort and march towards the same direction,” said Clarito Fruelda, chairman of the summit’s steering committee.
Cebusoft executive director and summit workshop manager Virgilio Paralisan noted that individual ICT stakeholders are moving in the right direction.
“But they waste so much energy doing the same things and overlapping. The thrust now is to integrate and move forward together,” he said.
He also revealed that organizers have chosen participants for this year’s summit.
“You get invited because you have something to contribute in innovation, social action and manpower development, among others,” he said. (ALC)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 23, 2006 issue)
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