digital-pilipinas-showcases-ph-as-‘soft-landing,-safe-haven’-for-global-innovators

Digital Pilipinas showcases Ph as ‘soft landing, safe haven’ for global innovators

 

Digital Pilipinas, the largest private sector movement for creating a technology and innovation ecosystem in the country, showcases the Philippines as a “soft landing and safe haven” for global innovators.

Amor Maclang, Digital Pilipinas Festival (DPF) Convenor, positioned the Philippines as “a welcoming gateway to ASEAN for other countries who wish to do business in our region, for innovators from other countries who, in the face of adverse political or economic conditions, need to temporarily relocate to where their culture of innovation will be preserved.”

During the DPF, foreign and Filipino leaders shared their plans for creating a stronger, anti-fragile ASEAN by making digital tech more accessible to the public. Department of Information and Communications Technology – Philippines’ Undersecretary David Almirol stressed the crucial role of embracing the enabling qualities of technology in empowering agencies in enforcing their mandates. Through different policies and projects including the E-Governance Act and the iLGU, the public can experience seamless services which pave the way for them to take on bigger decisions and even go global.

Jimmy Kyle Siy, Brankas Director of Customer Success, said that a positive impact on trade would be the first advantage of an ASEAN tech collaboration.

Angkas CEO George Royeca said: working with ASEAN entails “collaboration with regulators in creating the best products that will have the highest positive effect.”

Manish Bhai, UNO Digital Bank Founder, President, and CEO, agreed that without a cross-border ecosystem, digitalization will not succeed: “Everyone is a collaborator – whether it’s cross-country, ASEAN, regional, global.”

Wei Zhou, CEO of Coins.ph, spoke of his plans to make the Philippines “a leader in Web 3.0 not just in ASEAN, but globally. Digital assets and blockchain are equalizers and can mean financial empowerment.”

DPF, which was composed of the World FinTech Festival-Philippines and the Philippine FinTech Festival, was held in partnership with Elevandi, an organization founded by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to foster public-private-sector dialogue to advance FinTech in the digital economy.

Jobbagy László, Managing Director of Digital Success Nonprofit Ltd., emphasized that “digitalization is all around us. We can have all kinds of people and have all kinds of degrees to digitize the culture even in terms of policy-making over the next 30 years.”

Participating in the DPF were co-presentor Coins.ph and co-convenors Etiqa Philippines; Angkas; PayMongo, UnionBank of the Philippines; digiCOOP; ADVANCE.AI; NinjaVan Philippines; KPMG Philippines; UNO Digital Bank; Creador; Globe; PruLife UK; ACUBELAW; Gorriceta Africa Cauton & Saavedra; Brankas; GCash; COL Financial; and, Xendit Philippines. Other partners were Tech Exactly; StartUp Village; Bounce Back PH; Fintech Philippines Association; FinScore; Mapúa University; GeiserMaclang Marketing Communications; Inquirer Group of Companies; Inquirer Mobile; Inquirer.Net; Philippine Daily Inquirer; The Philippine Star; Manila Bulletin; United Neon; and Coinvestasi.

Filipino and global industry and tech leaders gathered for the Digital Pilipinas Festival, which kicked off a month-long celebration for ASEAN tech while launching an anti-fragile technology and innovation ecosystem to bring about an economically stronger region.

SOURCE Philippine FinTech Festival

huawei-strengthens-support-for-asean-economic-community’s-industry-4.0-roadmap-and-joint-commitment

Huawei Strengthens Support for ASEAN Economic Community’s Industry 4.0 Roadmap and Joint Commitment

 

Having adopted the Consolidated Strategy on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) at the 38th ASEAN Summit in October last year, ASEAN organised a socialisation webinar for the Strategy, themed: ‘Embracing the 4IR: Outlook, Strategies, and Plans for ASEAN’ . The Strategy, as revealed at the webinar, was built upon existing 73 4IR-related initiatives undertaken by ASEAN so far, which is likely to increase in number in the coming years.

Seeing that efforts to realise Industry 4.0 require collaboration between and amongst stakeholders, advanced technology provider Huawei again expressed its commitment to support ASEAN 4IR agenda.

In addition to opening remarks delivered by Satvinder Singh, the Deputy Secretary-General of the ASEAN Economic Community and H.E. Will Nankervis, Australian Ambassador to ASEAN,  the webinar also heard perspectives from diverse ASEAN stakeholders, such as Dicky Edwin Hindarto, Advisor for Indonesia Joint Crediting Mechanism, Sharlini Eriza Putri, Co-Founder & CEO of Nusantics, Amarti Charoephan, ASEAN Director for Techstars Thailand/Impact Collective, Dr. Le Hoang Dung, the Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Teacher Education Network, and David Lu, President, Strategy Marketing Dept, Huawei Asia Pacific Region.

Although ASEAN in general has recorded a fantastic growth rate, there are still many aspects that need to be improved, said Satvinder Singh, Deputy Secretary-General of the ASEAN Economic Community. One of them is artificial intelligence (AI) investment, which is still far below compared to AI investments made in countries such as the US and China (i.e. USD 2 per capita in ASEAN as opposed to USD 155 and USD 21 per capita between 2015 and 2019 for the US and China respectively).

Moving forward, ASEAN plans to develop an Implementation Plan of its 4IR Strategy, which is expected to be rolled-out at the end of this year. “The Implementation Plan will identify, in consultation with all parties concerned, specific initiatives and programmes that would allow ASEAN to harness the potential benefits of the 4IR,” DSG Satvinder Singh said.

He also emphasized that a holistic approach allows 4IR to not only be used as an engine for the region’s economic growth and competitiveness, but also to promote inclusivity and sustainability.

David Lu, President, Strategy Marketing Dept, Huawei Asia Pacific Region, also agreed that ASEAN has some important work to do to achieve its 4IR potential. The sub-optimal penetration rate of cloud (less than 25 percent), 4G (54 percent), and fixed broadband (35 percent) is a note that must be considered by stakeholders in the region. Entering the era of 5G connectivity, ASEAN must show greater enthusiasm for the adoption of the latest digital technology.

He gave Thailand as an example of an ASEAN member state that has enjoyed concrete benefits from the accelerated adoption of 5G as a result of the collaboration between local operators and Huawei. “Bangkok is now ranked as one of the top ten cities in the world for 5G performance, with speeds up to five times that of 4G. In the healthcare sector, Huawei is also working with Siriraj Hospital, Thailand’s largest hospital, to build a smart hospital that provides remote healthcare, imaging and analytics capabilities, and unmanned vehicles,” said David Lu.

To date, Huawei has contributed to half of all 5G projects across industries in the world, including in the port, mining, and education industries.

“Huawei wants to add to our collaboration footprint in the region to create an interconnected ASEAN and bridge the digital divide. We will work closely with the ASEAN Economic Community to provide the technology, infrastructure and digital talent it needs. Together, we will bring benefits such as reliability, lower latency, more effective and efficient production, and digital transformation to every industry. Moreover, we will also make a transition to a green, carbon neutral, and sustainable economy,” he continued.

Focusing on sustainability and emission reduction, Dicky Edwin Hindarto, Advisor for Indonesia Joint Crediting Mechanism encouraged industries in particular to switch to environmentally friendly technologies. “In the long term, every industry player must adhere to the principles of sustainability. To achieve this, they must also understand which technologies should be applied, and how it should be applied,” Dicky advised. “Collaboration between ASEAN member countries and stakeholders is paramount. We should increase the capacity of every individual in this region in order to welcome Industry 4.0, leading towards a growing and sustainable economy.”

Meanwhile, Sharlini Eriza Putri, Nusantics Co-Founder & CEO encouraged youths to become future startup founders with a bold and transformative vision. Nusantics itself is engaged in biotechnology, particularly research and utilization of the microbiome. “Startup companies have a much faster pace, as well as the ability to disrupt conventional methods. ASEAN youth must take part in narrating Industry 4.0, especially around critical issues such as health and environment. Therefore, homegrown startups in ASEAN must be fully supported,” concluded Sharlini.

Huawei has a major program specifically for startups, called Huawei Cloud Spark, which was launched in August 2020. Through this program, Huawei collaborates with the government, leading incubators, venture capitalists, and universities to build a supporting platform for the emergence of new startups in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. Recently, together with the BISA AI educational institution, Oudpro Indonesia, and the UPN Veteran Indonesia Computer Science Study Center, Huawei held an AI Creation program that challenges young people to design a startup with AI technology solutions as its main focus.

ibm-teams-with-acclivis-to-extend-ibm-cloud-satellite-throughout-asia-and-accelerate-digital-transformation-for-regulated-industries

IBM teams with Acclivis to extend IBM Cloud Satellite throughout Asia and accelerate digital transformation for regulated industries

 

Acclivis Technologies and Solutions (“Acclivis”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong listed CITIC Telecom International Holdings (1883:HK), and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a collaboration to deploy IBM Cloud Satellite across Asia. Together, Acclivis and IBM will leverage hybrid cloud capabilities to help enterprises – including those in highly regulated industries – accelerate digital innovation while assisting the client with maintaining data sovereignty and achieving regulatory compliance.

As financial institutions expand their offerings to support customers and overcome the disruption caused by COVID-19 in Southeast Asia, regulatory scrutiny has increased to protect consumer data and adhere to data sovereignty regulations. The need to process sensitive data at its source without data crossing borders while delivering consistent global processes is more critical than ever. Acclivis will be able to use IBM Cloud Satellite to extend services such as IBM Watson to its client’s data centres, bringing analytics closer to where the data resides. For example, retailers could use IBM Watson services via IBM Cloud Satellite at the edge in stores to analyse data gathered on the shop floor for stock inventory and achieving “just in time” logistics to fulfil customer demands.

The collaboration will see IBM leveraging the regional data centre coverage of Acclivis in Hong KongSingaporeMalaysiaIndonesia and Thailand to host and manage data.

IBM Cloud Satellite helps to unify a management portal and process tools for a fintech company in Indonesia. This environment serves as a sandbox for the regional fintech industry to move workloads at the edge and deliver a more frictionless user experience. This has enabled the start up to deliver cost effective services to customers at speed and avoid expensive non-compliance issues.

The partnership will combine IBM’s strength in delivering security-rich and open hybrid cloud capabilities for enterprise with Acclivis’ network of data centres and Internet connectivity across the region. Together, they will be able to deliver security-rich and open cloud services to the region, leveraging IBM Cloud Satellite and Acclivis’ extensive data centre footprint.

IBM Cloud Satellite brings IBM Cloud services to any environment where data resides – whether at the edge, on premises, or on multiple public clouds. It is designed to enable clients to access cloud services with speed across any environment.

Acclivis is part of IBM’s partner ecosystem fueling hybrid cloud environments by helping clients manage and modernize workloads from the mainframe to the edge and everything in between with Red Hat OpenShift, the industry’s renowned enterprise Kubernetes platform. IBM Cloud Satellite is engineered to give clients the flexibility to run where their data resides while leveraging the technology of IBM Cloud.

Mr. Marcus Cheng, CEO of Acclivis, said: “Being a long-time collaborator with IBM and a company that has broad regional reach in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, this partnership allows us to tap IBM Cloud Satellite to strengthen our portfolio of services in the cloud and data centre hosting segment. Coupled with seamless connectivity powered by our subsidiary, Pacific Internet, and our automated Managed Services Platform that digitizes and streamlines workflows, enterprise customers experience reduced latency and superior customer experience when they build and manage their cloud with us.

“IBM is collaborating with more than 65 ecosystem partners to build security-rich cloud services to help clients run workloads in any environment via IBM Cloud Satellite. As a technology partner to enterprises and government agencies, many in highly regulated industries, Acclivis has a broad regional data centre footprint which we can tap on to accelerate customer deployment. We look forward to elevating our relationship with Acclivis to enjoy the performance that they deserve, said Mr. Raymond Wong, IBM Cloud Platform Leader, ASEAN.

With the common goal of supporting our joint customers’ needs, IBM and Acclivis continue to collaborate in delivering integrated cloud solutions and accelerate digital innovation across Asia Pacific.