DAVAO CITY—About 200 Mayors and Governors from Mindanao’s 27 provinces will convene in Davao City for the first GovTech Mindanao Summit.
“GovTech is technically a gathering of over 200 Mayors and Governors from all over the 27 provinces of Mindanao, and we will present to them 10 technology startups to exhibit their solutions to government problems,” says Mary Malabad, co-chair of GovTech Mindanao 2025.
The GovTech Mindanao Summit will take place on September 24 at the Pinnacle Hotel. It is a key feature of Davao Startup Week, which runs from September 24-27.
Malabad said a main aim of the summit is to enable eight startups to pilot tech-driven solutions. The event will also facilitate B2G (Business-to-Government) partnerships for local governments, focusing on digital governance, disaster resilience, smart cities, public health, and supporting Mindanao-based startups.
“For Davao Startup Week, our theme for this year is ‘Grassroots Global Reach Scaling innovations From the South’ so with this GovTech Mindanao summit, we aim to at least empower our local startups here in Mindanao to enable the B2G model for businesses,” Malabad said
Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), startup advocate IDEAS Davao, Upgrade Innolab, Department of Information Communications Technology (DICT), and Department of Science and Technology are among the partners conducting the GovTech Mindanao Summit.
According to Malabad, they plan to make GovTech summits an annual event, as suggested by MinDA.
“We will do a MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) between MinDa and Upgrade Innolab to make this GovTech event an annual event,” Malabad said. (PIA/RGA)