PHOTO: PLDT and Smart First Vice President and Head of Enterprise and International Business Groups Mitch Locsin introduces his virtual assistant RODA as he welcomed a diverse audience of students, innovators, experts, business executives, and government leaders in the record-breaking PH Digicon 2023, which sponsors envision as a watershed event for the Philippines’ digital revolution.
A bold vision of the Philippines’ digital future–shaped by innovative solutions, cutting-edge technologies, and visionary leaders–was showcased at the widely attended Philippine Digital Convention 2023 (PH Digicon 2023), an annual gathering of digital thought trailblazers hosted by the PLDT Enterprise, the corporate business arm of PLDT.
It was a momentous event for the Philippine technology industry as this 9th PH Digicon presented many firsts including the Start-Up Innovation Challenge, the final pitching and demo day for start-ups to showcase their ideas to industry experts on how to solve everyday challenges using technologies involving Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), 5G, Smart Cities, Immersive Technologies, and Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG). There was also Digi Grounds, a hub that opened business opportunities for enterprises, and offered immersive experience in the latest digital trends, the latest technologies, and transformative ideas, through experiential booths from PLDT Enterprise, ePLDT, PLDT Home, Smart, Maya Business, mWell, Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation, Amdocs, Cisco, Huawei, Nokia, and the finalists from the Start-Up Innovation Challenge.
Digicon City featured the SME Zone which provided networking opportunities for entrepreneurs; the Digi Hub, a section that offered insightful programs from various entities as well as from experts, business leaders, and influential speakers, and Digi Grounds which allowed attendees to gain a hands-on experience in innovative and new technologies, interact with cutting-edge demos, and connect with fellow delegates.
Mitch Locsin, PLDT and Smart First Vice President and Head of Enterprise and International Business Groups, said the two-day PH Digicon 2023, themed “VISION: Reimagine Tomorrow’s Enterprise,” attracted more than 5,500 on-site guests from industry experts, students, small, medium, and large businesses, and local government units, all eager to learn about cutting-edge technologies and innovations that would help shape the country’s economic future.
“We hope that everyone took a lot of learnings from the two-day event and created opportunities for their vision of their next enterprise,” said Locsin. He noted the diverse demographics of delegates that included industry and business executives, digital start-ups, entrepreneurs, students, and government representatives to underscore the keen interest in the nationwide digital revolution being spearheaded by the PLDT Group and PLDT Enterprise.
The PLDT and Smart Start-Up Innovation Challenge saw Xeleqt AI from Cebu emerged as the grand champion out of 10 finalists. Xeleqt AI aims to help businesses collect and organize data from remote worksites and mobile workspaces using a new breed of 4G/5G-enabled AI devices that reduce H.R., I.T., and Finance data management workloads by 90%.
The company’s mission is to make it safe, simple, and economical for businesses to provision and operate A.I.-enabled connected devices to track and augment the productivity of the distributed workforce. At the same time, they want to help businesses acquire real-time insights about their daily operations so that they can make better decisions on how to optimize the use of these assets, reduce risk, monetize idling capacity, minimize the hazards to essential workers, and increase revenue.
Its vision is to be the global leader in providing ambient intelligence in physical workspaces using connected devices that recognize and respond to human presence and input.
For its innovative project, Xeleqt AI won P250,000 in cash and 250,000 Google credits.
The challenge was in partnership with QBO and IdeaSpace, which served as a special venue for start-ups to showcase their innovative ventures in Day 2 of the Philippine digital conference.
“The theme, VISION: Reimagine Tomorrow’s Enterprise, for this year’s PH Digicon emanated from PLDT Enterprises’ Visionaries Campaign. The campaign was started to help us understand exactly what the C-levels’ visions are and enable them. When I say the visions of our C-levels, it is not just the large enterprise. It can be the largest enterprise from local corporations and multinationals down to the humblest of SMEs,” said Chet Alviz, PLDT Enterprise Vice President and Head of Enterprise Marketing.
“As we’ve found out, they know what they want. What excites them most is when we talk to them about their visions. Naturally, technology comes after and that’s what we support,” Alviz added.
He said the record-breaking attendance in this iteration of PH Digicon should be eclipsed by the 2024 edition, which will celebrate a decade of innovation and digital transformation. “We hope you can join us for a historic year. Next year will be our 10th, and we promise to make it the best ever,” he added.
PH Digicon 2023: VISION was powered by Amdocs, Cisco, Huawei Technologies Phils. Inc., Nokia, Google Cloud, Samsung, ZTE Corporation, Avolution Inc., Fortinet, Soprano Design, CSG, Dell Technologies Philippines, Ericsson Telecommunications, Inc., and Maya Philippines, Inc.
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