DOST launches int’l ICT business incubation, startup hub in Palawan

• Source:http://www.mb.com.ph/dost-launches-intl-ict-business-incubation-startup-hub-in-palawan/
• Monday, December 28, 2015

By Edd K. Usman

Filipinos with bright ideas on information and communications technology (ICT) leading to a startup business can now count for help from an ICT hub in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

It’s because the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and its partners have just launched the Philippines’ first international ICT business incubator early this month.

DOST-MIMAROPA collaborated with Palawan State University (PSU), Palaweño ICT Association (PICTA), and Make a Difference (MAD) Industries of Malaysia for the hub they opened at the Palawan State University-Main Campus in Puerto Princesa City.

It’s called the Palawan International ICT Business Incubator cum Startup Hub (Palawan ITBI).

Wikipedia says ‎”a business incubator… is a company that helps new and startup companies” while “a startup…is an entrepreneurial venture or a new business in the form of a company” looking “for a repeatable and scalable business model.”

DOST-MIMAROPA (Misamis Oriental and Occidental, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan) said the Palawan ITBI will serve as a hub for local “technopreneurs” to help them develop their tech-relevant ideas into world-class products.

Technology-based startups have been sprouting in the region, the agency noted.

It’s where “ideas can be transformed into products and startups can be guided to become fully-fledged entrepreneurs,” said Director Josephine Abilay, head of DOST-MIMAROPA, said of the hub they opened on December 14.

In a statement, the regional agency expressed confidence in realizing the goals of DOST, PSU, and PICTA, “namely, to nurture technopreneurship, promote public-private partnership in the development of MIMAROPA, create more jobs, and introduce local technology ventures into the ASEAN Economic Community as well as the East ASEAN Growth Area which consists of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.”

ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations comprising of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,‎ Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The Palawan ITBI will be run under the MAD Incubator management framework and a partnership between a successful MAD Incubator owned by Andrew Wong.

Among those who witnessed the Palawan ITDI launching included outgoing PSU President Jeter Sespeñe, Elliot Hsu of Taiwan-based Hand Link Corporation, City Councilor and ICT Committee Chairman Eleutherius Edualino, students and faculty members from PSU, and media representatives.

It can be recalled the DOST-ICT Office has been a strong supporter of startups in the country.

The ICT Office has been a partner of many of the local startup advocates and stakeholders.