Lessons in business and education: Why PHL lags in science and technology

The Philippines lacks qualified manpower in science and technology, US Ambassador Harry K. Thomas told an entrepreneurship forum this week, citing a USAID study, and noted intelligent Pinoys prefer to live abroad.   On that note, Thomas encouraged overseas Filipinos to return, echoing the prescription of former President Bill Clinton who was in Manila for a speaking engagement in November 2010.    "Be like Dr. Jose Rizal who came back to the Philippines to help," said Thomas said in a discussion with Philippine Development Foundation (PhilDev) president Catherine Buan Peterson.   Building on the success of #Hack2Hatch in Cebu – an initiative of a number of Pinoy Silicon Valley celebrities – PhilDev hosted a forum on entrepreneurship and innovation, focusing on the benefits of giving back to one's homeland, at the Manila Peninsula Hotel, Makati City on Monday, Oct. 8.   More than 300 participants, from tech titans to venture capitalists and startups, were at the forum "Silicon Valley Comes to the Philippines."   #Hack2Hatch was a weekend bootcamp PhilDev staged in Cebu from Oct. 5 to Oct. 7 for tech start-ups.   The US ambassador parlayed questions – on how entrepreneurship and technology could help developing countries like the Philippines move forward – into nuggets of advice, saying the country needs more PhD graduates, particularly in science and technology.   "We focus on women and girls getting into science and technology," said Thomas, referring to a US sponsored scholarship in the Philippines.   The ambassador emphasized the importance of using democracy to the nation's advantage instead of comparing the Philippines with developed neighbors like Singapore, and encouraged entrepreneurship among Pinoys.   He encouraged entrepreneurship in the Philippines, citing many Filipinos who graduate from college automatically look for jobs abroad. "In this hotel, you need a university degree to bring me water," he said.   Thomas believes that entrepreneurship, combined with technology could help the country attain progress. "Government supporting entrepreneurship, making it easy doing business… That is what we want to see here.   "Just because something doesn't work doesn't mean it is a bad idea. It could spawn a new idea," Thomas added.   On how the US benefits from this kind of set up, "What benefits the US is a long-standing democracy in this part of the world."   Business and innovative thinking   Some questions raised during the morning session were on “technopreneurship,” and how geeks could go into business using their innovative thinking.   Paul Santos, a venture capitalist and a managing partner of WaveMakers Labs, boiled down the first question a start up must answer: "The world exists fine without you today. Does… [your innovation] really solve a problem?"   Venture capitalists and tech titans from Silicon Valley, such as Professor Toby Stuart of University of California in Berkeley, said entrepreneurs should not be afraid of failing.   "For those who are driven to do it, there is no professional track to do it," said Stuart.   "The key part of institutionalizing entrepreneurship in many ways is to create an environment that would make failure celebrated," Stuart added.   Facebook's Elmer Sotto said, "One of the key values in Facebook is 'be bold.' How many times have you failed? Many times! Let's celebrate that!"   The panelists of PhilDev’s forum emphasized the need for an ecosystem of collaboration and adaptation to make technopreneurship work.   "When you open up a sector and combine technology with it, there are a lot of areas which you can do," said Fernando Zobel de Ayala of Ayala Corp.   This is a special time for the Philippines, said Novare Technologies CEO Myla Villanueva.   “Next year, our telcos are going to be launching high speed networks… When you ask about market or technology, it has to be both. Of course you should have the right time."   An Achilles’ heel called education   Trade Secretary Gregorio Domingo said the good thing about the Philippine economy is its current vibrancy, ranking as the third fastest growing economy in Asia and in the world.   Domingo noted education – to an extent – remains the country's Achilles’ heel when it comes to development in the areas of science and technology.   Citing latest statistics on enrollees and graduates in information technology and computer science, Dr. Rey Vea of Mapua Institute of Technology said, "I think we are getting mixed signals here, whether these courses are over subscribed or whether we need graduates." See: Circus science: putting big ideas under the big top    Vea noted the need for a bit of industry intervention to encourage high school graduates to take a career path in information technology and computer science.   University of the Philippines College of Engineering Dean Aura Matias cited scholarships as a way to encourage students, noting the lack of incentives for college graduates to go for graduate studies.   "The ecosystem is probably the one that needs to be worked on," he said.   Professor Rigoberto Advincula of Case Western Reserve University noted the country should build a culture of educated graduates who, despite going abroad, would still want to come back to serve the country. "It's a matter of culture… That has to be a culture that is more and more to serve the Philippines."   He said the best way to maintain a vibrant tech industry in the Philippines is to pool homegrown talents. — VS, GMA News