Two years ago, there was a forum held here that got many of our young leaders involved. The forum may not have generated so much noise back then, drowned by other major developments such as the Philippines hosting APEC, and no less than US President Barack Obama attending.
That was OCEANS 14 which focused more on social enterprise and working with communities, and now the convenors are all set to hold OCEANS 16 in Bohol from Nov. 24 to 25. OCEANS stands for Open Collaboration with East Asia New Champions Summit 2016. Co-chairing OCEANS 16 are Sen. Bam Aquino who is passionate about unlocking the potential for technological innovation for the benefit of the Philippines, and Winston Damarillo, a Filipino Young Global Leader recognized by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
WEF held this year’s meeting at Davos –Klosters in Switzerland and Mr. Damarillo was there. He spoke about the newest trend called Fourth Industrial Revolution or “Industry 4.0” and he is excited about how this can impact emerging markets like the Philippines.
In the recent media presentation for OCEANS 16 which Business & Leisure attended, the speakers in the OCEANS 16 panel included noted broadcaster Karen Davila who was already involved with OCEANS 14. She said she was struck by the fact that most Filipino entrepreneurs lacked the knowledge of how to connect and who to connect with, and how pleased she was that OCEANS 16 would be hosted by the Philippines this year. Most conferences like this would often be held in Hong Kong or other more cosmopolitan cities but because of OCEANS 14, she was given the opportunity to connect with the right people.
Industry 4.0 is all about breakthroughs in technology and how it can “transform whole systems of production, management and governance to aid societies overcome challenges from business and energy, to transportation and climate change.” Said Winston Damarillo, “this year in Davos, we talked about the Fourth Industrial Revolution– how high technology will promote rapid industrialization and how digital can impact lives for the better.” And this is what OCEANS 16 is bringing to the Philippines in the forum in Bohol on Nov. 24-25. As Sen. Bam Aquino explained, OCEANS 16 is bringing innovative people and companies together, those who care about the country’s future. It will look at what the latest innovations all over the world are and how these can positively impact the Philippines, how it can improve our future and help our country move forward.
In the Philippines, there are a few companies working with OCEANS to bring to our shores the latest digital innovations. Among these are Meralco, PLDT SME, Landbank, BDO, Hortonworks and NEC Philippines who will be presentors at OCEANS 16 to talk about disruptive and transformative technologies in Bohol.
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Meralco, for its part, will discuss emerging solutions through their program called the Technology and Innovation Summit (MTECH) to help inform the players in the Philippine energy industry work towards smarter utilities and create intelligent customer-related solutions that will enhance our lives. Along this line, Meralco reported they implemented their Automated Distribution Management System (ADMS) this year. They are digitizing the electrical grid and automating power distribution should power outages occur. This is what we mean by the digital world changing the Filipino’s lives, changing the Philippine landscape and harnessing this for our common good. The ADMS is part of Meralco’s efforts to support alternative forms of energy like wind and solar and digital trends like Cloud and Big Data.
PLDT SME Nation, on the other hand, is offering solutions like the Smart Tracker, which utilizes technologies like Wifi and blue tooth and which has proven vital for business owners to monitor their vehicles or field force personnel to improve productivity and security. Other solutions include their Smart Logistics Solutions and this where e-ticketing systems and digital proof of delivery come in. Previous to these high tech solutions, our MSMEs were already leveraging their business through internet connectivity and smart mobile devices, so these innovations have raised the bar for them and have given them a competitive advantage in their businesses and become more cost-effective.
Sen. Bam Aquino, for his part, talked about a bill he sponsored at the heels of OCEANS 14. This is the Start-up Bill in support of the country’s micro, small, and medium enterprises. Together with other leaders involved in OCEANS, he believes that digital technology is not the privilege of big corporations alone. MSMEs should be able to benefit from this as well if MSMEs are to be competitive.
Winston Damarillo, like Sen. Bam, is most passionate about how OCEANS 16 can work not only for MSMEs but for our OFWs as well. This year’s forum is a whole new dimension and it will be a great opportunity for many Filipinos to collaborate with big businesses.
One of the partners of OCEANS 16 is Kaya Ko, which is a membership of very talented Filipinos targeting overseas Pinoys to come home and start life here again as entrepreneurs. We have a wealth of limitless ideas from MSMEs whom they now call “Indiepreneurs” in OceanS. At this new forum, there will be so many diverse ideas, there will be networking with other small and big businesses. Hopefully too, this will open the eyes of our public officials to the new opportunities and innovations. Mr. Damarillo promises that Bohol will be a whole new experience, a “microcosm of what we want to achieve for the theme of this year’s OCEANS. Technology will help Filipinos tap into their creativity, come together to share resources and include more and more people into the economy and the conversation that is now taking place online. Technology can help us be who we are, but better.”
For his part, Sen. Bam said he “believes government support is important in unlocking the potential for technological innovation. That is why we are pushing for the Innovative Start-up Act so that we can boost our digital start-up community.”
Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.
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