Saturday, July 28, 2007 Robillo: Forging ahead with MICT '07 By Oliver Robillo IT Talks
THE 6th Mindanao ICT Congress, which will be held on October 23 and 24 2007, was formally launched Friday in simple ceremonies. Its website was also officially made public: www.mict2007.com.
This year's host, the Davao City Chamber of Commerce & Industry, is teamed up with the city's umbrella organization of IT associations, ICT Davao Inc.
If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time that the MICT is being spearheaded (at least in part) by the actual stakeholders of the IT industry.
The MICT Congress franchise is owned by the Mindanao Business Council (MBC), and it awards the privilege to host the event to a member Chamber each year. The Davao Chamber hosted the first 2 congresses, and once more this year.
What's unique again in MICT'07 is the holding of the BIMP-Eaga ICT Conference for the very first time.
The MBC, through the auspices of the Mindanao Economic Development Council (Medco), was able to convince our opposite numbers in Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia to join forces with us this year to help us give deeper meaning to the MICT's theme: "ICT Beyond Borders."
The entities directly involved in the MICT are the following: MBC, the Davao Chamber, ICT Davao Inc, Medco, and the BIMP-Eaga Business Council. The Department of Trade and Industry in Region 11 and the city government of Davao are also lending their support towards a successful 6th MICT Congress.
After five years of conducting the MICT Congress, why is it that the people behind it are especially noisier this year? Monchito Ibrahim, of the Commission on ICT, answers this succinctly: Mindanao, aside from being the food basket of the nation, is now recognized as a viable source of skilled IT workers. However, there are serious challenges that are hampering the island economy from realizing its full potential. The conduct of the 6th MICT Congress is based upon addressing these challenges.
Increasingly we are faced with the specter of globalization. The playing field is at a much higher level now, and if we remain reluctant to forge ahead, we are in danger of losing out to more aggressive and single-minded competitors.
One of which is China. This nominally Communist nation has apparently embraced capitalism, seemingly without much reservation. We see now that their sheer population size alone poses a threat to our ability to excel in the global arena.
For example, some parts of China receive a hundredfold more IT outsourcing projects from Japan than we do.
Mindanao, led by Davao City and Cagayan de Oro City, stands a fighting chance. We do have highly-skilled and IT professionals, as well as a supply of trainable personnel. A good number of whom, unfortunately, are no longer within our borders. That's one problem: brain drain.
Another is this: How steady will this manpower supply be 5, 10 years hence? Is our educational infrastructure coping with the changing technologies? Are our schools adapting their curricula to meet the stringent requirements of IT companies?
This issue is involved, to say the least, but it is not yet moot. There will be no quick fixes for this industry-academe situation, but working towards the solution must be begun immediately. Fortunately, we have a working model upon which to build and improve: the MICT itself, and the synergies that have successfully sprung up only this year.
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The 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit, in keeping with the schedules of the larger MICT Congress, has been moved back to its original date: 27 October 2007. Please refer to the event blog for more details (www.mindanaobloggers.com)
