Thursday, July 26, 2007 6th MICT, BIMP-Eaga ICT gab launched here By Joy Romares-Sevilla
THE 6th Mindanao Information and Communications Technology (MICT) Congress was officially launched Wednesday back-to-back with the first BIMP-Eaga ICT Conference, at the Grand Men Seng Hotel.
Andrei Joseph Fournier, MICT 2007 spokesman, said during the Club 888 press forum Wednesday that this is the first time Davao City will hold an ICT conference that will be participated not only by stakeholders from Mindanao, but also from Manila, USA, Japan, and Korea.
"We are going international this time because the MICT Congress will be held back to back with the BIMP-Eaga ICT Conference," Fournier said.
Both events are slated on October 23 and 24 at the Exhibition Center of the NCCC Mall.
Fournier revealed the difference in this year's MICT congress is the holding of talks and plenary sessions seen to be relevant not only to the ICT sector, but also to other sectors which have immediate concern on the ICT industry.
"We will be having a lot of talks, one of these will be a talk from an intellectual property lawyer for software development," Fournier said, adding that a software, called the open-source disaster management, will also be introduced to attract local government units (LGUs).
He said the disaster management software is already accepted worldwide and has been used by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). The software enables a person to know various measures and strategies to manage and overcome disasters.
The 6th MICT congress promises to elevate ICT in a different level with the collaboration of the Eaga-member countries.
The congress will also feature special events like the ICT trade exhibit, business matching forums, a Mindanao Bloggers summit, Peso business plan competition, digital photography exhibition, and an online gaming competition.
One of its objectives is to support the development momentum of the ICT industry which continues to be a mechanism of growth in the country.
Fournier said there is no doubt now that Davao City is considered as the ICT hub in Mindanao with the staging of the two events in the city.
"I was in Manila recently and I had talks with people there, those people are actually looking for an alternative ICT hub, they cited Cagayan de Oro and I wondered bakit hindi nila nabanggit ang Davao. They told me that Davao is considered developed in terms of ICT, hindi na tayo developmental, we are matured in business process outsourcing (BPO) organization," Fournier shared.
This year's host of the 6th MICT is the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII), in coordination with the Mindanao Business Council, and the ICT Davao Inc.
