Microsoft exec: Innovation-driven economies strengthen global environment

Emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific may yet turn out winners of the post-recession world if they focus on fostering innovation, developing businesses and increasing labor market efficiency. Meanwhile, the Philippines lags behind its neighbors in terms of key metrics —although there is much hope for improvement, according to independent analysis.

 

Microsoft Asia-Pacific Vice President Alvaro Celis pointed this out as he said the region’s strong fundamentals bode well for increasing national competitiveness.

 

"Innovation will drive the region’s national competitiveness, and core to the rise of Asia has been a preparedness to stick to the course when it comes to the development of innovation, talent and infrastructure. This drive for change has seen growth from villages to skyscrapers in a single generation, and a region of people with both tenacity for success today and a vision for the future," Alvaro said in his keynote to an audience comprising media and analysts from throughout Asia at Microsoft’s second annual Accelerating Asia Pacific Summit.

 

But Celis said Asian markets need to be tech-ready and focus on areas such as education and skills capacity building for workforce development; implementing e-government efficiencies to better serve citizens and businesses and nurturing the local innovation ecosystem by encouraging more private-public-partnerships.

 

With the support of Deputy Minister Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the Accelerating Asia Pacific Summit also marked the official launch of two major investments by Microsoft to support civil society.

TechSoup Asia  

These include TechSoup Asia for Malaysia and Kavakatu, the first globally available application built in Asia through the App.Incubator partnership.

 

“I am pleased to have been given the honor to unveil one of Microsoft’s global programs in Malaysia, which provides software to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) through TechSoup Asia. This program has been rolled-out in 38 countries and has benefited more than 40,000 NGOs worldwide and I believe local NGOs will be most happy to participate,” said Deputy Minister Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, whose speech was read by Dato’ Noharuddin Nordin, Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA), at the event.

 

TechSoup Asia, which will be available for the first time in Malaysia, will allow qualified, Malaysian-based NGOs to request a wide range of software product donations, including operating system software, Microsoft Office and server products.

 

"We are very excited to be partnering with Microsoft and showing a joint commitment to the NGO sector. With the availability of TechSoup in Malaysia there will be broader availability of software through donations to NGOs, so in real terms this means NGOs can get on with their goals of addressing social challenges knowing that we are supporting their software needs," said Mike Yeaton, Vice President of TechSoup Asia.

 

Infoshare, a Microsoft non-profit partner from Sri Lanka, also launched Kavakatu, a web-based application for monitoring and evaluation of civil society projects.

 

It was built with feedback from NGOs around Asia Pacific, and creates a standardized set of indicators to use across projects.

 

The app can also be customized to track on a per-project basis.

 

Kavakatu is the first application from the Microsoft and Infoshare collaboration called App.Incubator.

 

Globally, Microsoft’s software donations have totaled more than $3.9 billion since they began in 1998, and will be further augmented through TechSoup Asia. TechSoup Asia executives said that the service is expected to launch in the Philippines in mid-2012. Philippine situation

 

In the Philippines, the quality of the country’s public institutions continues to be assessed as poor, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012.

 

"Issues of corruption and physical security appear particularly acute ... The state of its infrastructure is 

improving marginally, but not nearly fast enough to meet the needs of the business sector. The country ranks 

a mediocre 113th for the overall state of its infrastructure, with particularly low marks for the quality of its seaport (123rd) and airport infrastructure (115th)," it said.

 

Also, it said that despite an enrollment rate of around 90 percent, primary education is characterized by low- quality standards.

 

Yet against such weaknesses, the macroeconomic situation of the Philippines is more positive: the country is up 14 places to 54th in the macroeconomic environment pillar, thanks to slightly lower public deficit and debt, an improved country credit rating, and inflation that remains under control.

 

In the other, more complex pillars of the Index, the Philippines continues to have a vast opportunity for improvement, it said.

 

It said the largely inflexible and inefficient labor market (113th) has shown very little progress over the past four years.

 

But on a more positive note, the country ranks a good 57th in the business sophistication category, thanks to a large quantity of local suppliers, the existence of numerous and well-developed clusters, and an increased presence of Filipino businesses in the higher segments of the value chain.

 

Also, the sheer size of the domestic market (36th) confers a notable competitive advantage. — TJD, GMA News