24 February 2022, San Francisco California – The pandemic has accelerated the use of technologies like artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and robotics, which are driving an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable industrial development. This was the overall topic that emerged from the Make it Happen in the Philippines: How Technology is Changing Landscape in the Philippines – Opportunities for Partnerships and Investments organized by the Philippine Trade & Investment Center-Silicon Valley (PTIC-SV), the Philippine Board of Investments, and supported by the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco. The webinar underscored that exponential growth in the Philippines’ digital economy has opened up a lot of opportunities for hyperscalers, cloud-based solutions, resilient technology, advanced manufacturing, and vehicle technology enterprises.
Consul General Neil Ferrer noted that “the Philippines is evidently moving towards digitization efforts across different industries, with a significant growth around fintech, enterprise solutions, e-commerce, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.” He added that the Consulate is partnering with Dynamico and the PTIC-SV to lead programs that would help spur the growth for the country’s nascent startup ecosystem.
Undersecretary Rafaelita Aldaba noted that the Philippines has seen a strong growth in its internet economy, based on estimated figures from market revenues alone.She added that the introduction of new and more advanced technologies accelerates the country’s 4th Industrial Revolution goals. She cited that the adoption of AI in the Philippines would translate to a 12% contribution to the GDP at $92 billion by 2030, based on the estimates of EDBI and Kearney.
“It is important to gear our policies and that we work together especially in terms of integrating and linking our startups with other stakeholders, building the ecosystem. All these are aimed at addressing poverty, inequality, and building the nation.” Undersecretary Aldaba said.
BOI Director Lanie Dormiendo noted the projected growth of enterprise demand for cloud-based solutions from 1.8 billion at present to 2.6 billion in 2024, almost doubling the country’s demand for cloud-based solutions. Government incentives in such technology-based activities are also available with a maximum 17 years.
The business dialogue featured PLDT Enterprise, led by its vice president Victor Aliwalas, as well as founders of notable startups, such as Mr. John Gangat, of Lycan Motorcyles and Mr. Ralph Regalado of Senti A.I. PLDT is the oldest and largest telecommunications and digital company in the country, which has 82 million internet users.
Senti A.I. started as a simple social media listening platform that has transitioned into developing AI solutions for Philippine companies and organizations to bring efficiency into their operations. Lycan is an early-stage motorcycle startup that leverages the country’s competitiveness as an electronics manufacturing base for motorcycles assembly, parts, and components and incorporates AI applications in its products.
Plentina co-founder Earl Valencia hosted the online event. Plentina is a fintech and AI startup with headquarters in Silicon Valley that serves emerging markets. The company started 2021 with about 15,000 downloads and ended the year with 300,000 downloads.
The recording of the business dialogue is available on demand at https://youtu.be/vWm4ggA2Ay4
