Australian businessman eyes Clark as PH’s Silicon Valley

• Source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/local-news/2016/03/07/australian-businessman-eyes-clark-phs-silicon-valley-461243
• Monday, March 7, 2016

By Reynaldo G. Navales

CLARK FREEPORT -- Australian businessman and newspaper columnist Peter Wallace has underscored the potential of Clark to become the Silicon Valley of the Philippines.

Wallace stressed this during the 51st General Membership Meeting of the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PamCham) held at the Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino here recently.

Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California where the world’s largest high-technology corporations are located. It is a leading hub and startup ecosystem for high-tech innovation and development and accounting for one-third of all venture capital investments in the US.

Aside from this, Clark is also a potential business process outsourcing capital of the country, according to Wallace.

“Up here in Clark, you have plenty of land that can be developed so it can be done and it’s above sea level so it makes a lot of sense to decentralize out of Manila up to here and maybe make this the BPO center of the Philippines - the Silicon Valley or the Bangalore of the Philippines or Asia,” he said.

“It makes good sense, given the Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sectors, it is the future of the world. Leave agriculture to Mindanao and leave manufacturing to Cavite, let’s make this (Clark) the services center,” Wallace added.

Clark Development Corporation president Arthur P. Tugade earlier underscored that information technology is one of the industries now booming in Clark.

From hardware to software, I.T. is a business by itself. Clark right now, abounds in businesses related to I.T.,” he said.

In 2010, CDC was awarded Center of Excellence in Information and Communications and Technology by Business Process Association of the Philippines, Commission on Information and Communications Technology and the Department of Trade and Industry.

Clark has been officially designated as a Center of Excellence in ICT investments alongside Metro Manila and Cebu.

In his column at the Philippine Daily Inquirer dated May 21, 2015, Wallace titled “Like it is an IT Vision,” Wallace wrote:

“And do a “Silicon Valley” and establish an IT City. I’d choose Clark. It’s got the infrastructure, it’s got the location, it’s got the land, it’s got the airport, and, not far away, seaport.”

“Move universities—technical universities, not law schools—there. Move young people there. Give more incentives than you can possibly imagine. Make Clark (and don’t give it some politician’s name, keep history, and a name foreigners can pronounce) the center of the IT world.”

Wallace also called on government authorities to consider Clark and Subic to be the next capital of the Philippines.

Wallace, chairman and chief executive officer of the Wallace Business Forum, said that Clark has all the necessary attributes like the deep water and large and well protected harbor of Subic and the wide aviation complex of Clark International Airport.