IdeaSpace collabs with DOST, DTI, ICTO to build country’s ‘Silicon Valley’ hub

This decade’s business buzzword must be “innovation.” The SME and the startup are on the rise. Business giants are bowing to the inevitable. Rather than casting aside the entrepreneurial efforts of the working class, big companies are welcoming them in an open embrace. Investors and incubators arise to support the budding entrepreneur.

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Besides Silicon Valley, the world’s number one innovation district, regions in Tel Aviv and Southeast Asia are now hotspots for startup innovation. Following the footsteps of our neighbors in Singapore and Malaysia, the IdeaSpace Foundation and key partners in the public and private sectors are collaborating to build the country’s version of Silicon Valley.

IdeaSpace President Earl Valencia talks about five key factors which will facilitate the blossoming of a startup ecosystem: the involvement of the technological academic setting, where the ideation phase is most potent; the involvement of the corporate world to support entrepreneurial efforts; incentive; an attractive location where ideas can happen; and, getting entrepreneurs to go to that location.

All these factors are represented in IdeaSpace’s new collaboration, which involves the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Information and Communications Technology Office, and partners in the academe. They hope to tap more partners in the public and private sphere to build on this innovation hub.

This announcement was made on the sidelines of SlingshotMNL, the official Startup Event of APEC Philippines 2015, where venture capitalists, investors, startups, and industry stakeholders from the Philippines and around the world converged for the two-day event to discuss innovation prospects and chart the future of startup ecosystems around the region.

DOST Undersecretary for Science and Technology Services Dr. Rowena Guevara explains that the time has come to tap the private sector to accelerate the technology transfer from ideation to implementation. The Department will be funding the project a total of 35 million pesos for the first two years.

The DTI and the ICTO both stress the positive impact a burgeoning startup ecosystem will have on the overall economy of the Philippines and the country’s presence on the international stage. ICTO’s Deputy Executive Director was excited to lay down the Philippine Startup Roadmap 2020, enumerating the efforts the ICTO is doing to foster an entrepreneurial mindset especially in today’s youth. These include next month’s “Geeks on a Beach” event in Boracay, lean startup bootcamps, and various workshops all around the country.

These innovation hubs have been strategically placed near universities to stoke the entrepreneurial fire even before graduation. There are two planned locations: one near the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros and one near the UP National Engineering Center in Diliman. As a result, partnerships with the schools situated near the planned hubs have been established. The Manila-based hub will be a home for innovation from all the universities in the University Belt, which includes the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, the Colegio de San Juan de Letran, the Lyceum of the Philippines, and the Mapua Institute of Technology. The Diliman-based hub will be available for nearby schools the University of the Philippines and the Ateneo de Manila University.

Luis Sison, Director at UP Technology Transfer and Business Development Office, is eager to connect the technological innovations from the university level to the satisfaction of the end user. He states design thinking as a valuable tool in imbibing the spirit of entrepreneurship among his students, reassuring that the innovation hub will be essential in fostering the startup ecosystem.

As early as college, students are already enthusiastic about putting up their own business, citing the successful enterprises at Silicon Valley. If Jose Rizal was right in putting the country’s hope in its children, then the innovation hubs will help the Philippines’ drive to boost itself as a “break-out” nation for digital economy.

The start of this endeavor will be funded by the partners mentioned above. After a few years, IdeaSpace is hoping to have already established a self-sustaining economy which will fund itself and other startups. In terms of targets, IdeaSpace is hoping to take on twelve teams from the academe per year and five from the private sector for the first two years. Before that happens, IdeaSpace is issuing a call for more private and public industry players in pushing for the innovation ecosystem.