The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) has partnered with China’s Huawei, the world’s biggest technology company, to power its innovation center that seeks to provide an IT ecosystem to Filipino engineers and young professionals.
The MOU was signed by PCCI President Amb. Benedicto V. Yujuico and Huawei Technologies Philippines Inc. (Huawei Philippines) vice-president Daniel Guo at the soft launch of the PCCI Innovation Center. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is the world's largest telecom equipment maker and China's largest telephone-network equipment maker.
The parties agreed to work together to collaborate and work towards developing talent and expertise in Cloud and Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) amongst Filipino engineers and professionals
Under the agreement, Huawei will share its Cloud and AI know how and provide training support, talent development & co-innovation in AI for PCCI.
Huawei will provide Cloud and AI industry enablement & development support to PCCI Innovation Center in building up Cloud, AI talent and Ascend ecosystem through workshops covering e.g. Huawei Cloud & AI technology both hands on and practical.
The center will have access to Huawei Ascend Developer Zone & Huawei Cloud, on joint-innovation ICT development and technical support; as well as access to Huawei Cloud academy for technical training and career certificates.
The Chinese technology giant will also collaborate with PCCI to create a training-type innovation center with plans that it will gradually develop into a Technology Solution showcase-type lab to cover Cloud, AI and others Huawei’s ICT technologies in the future.
All activities envisioned in the collaboration between PCCI and Huawei will be conducted in the PCCI Innovation Center subject to the continuing consent of Amb. Benedicto V. Yujuico, the owner of said facility.
It will also empower PCCI to provide Huawei Cloud vouchers (for a limited period) for ISV & Local Enterprises to use Huawei Cloud, such as product development/testing/ production/backup/DR etc.
Huawei will also facilitate discussions and exchange of information in order to jointly develop innovations and solutions using Huawei’s ICT resources including Cloud, Ascend Atlas and others Huawei’s ICT resources.
On the part of PCCI, the country’s largest business organization will develop joint events, conferences, forums, publications, standards, educational materials, awards. PCCI will also encourage the organization to participate in such joint cooperative activities.
PCCI will also conduct joint Cloud and Ascend AI training courses, and develop the certification process, design the certification scope, and provide, in conjunction with PCCI, certificates for companies or individuals participating in the certification.
This MOU shall take effect from the date of signatures of the Parties for a period of 2 years. A joint review shall be conducted three months prior to the expiry of this MOU, at which time this MOU may be renewed annually, by the signatures of authorized representatives of both organizations.
In a speech, Yujuico stressed that since the start of his presidency at PCCI he was set for a huge thrust for innovation.
“Today our vision becomes a reality,” he pointed out.
The PCCI Innovation Center is built to give the Filipino youth more accessible opportunities to learn about in-demand skills and knowledge, such as in AI, Robotics, Coding, Big Data Analysis, Internet of Things, Satellite Internet Connectivity, and Blockchain. The educational programs offered in the Innovation Center are carefully crafted to align with the requirements of the tech job market.
He said the PCCI Innovation Center is an ideal hub to bridge investors and innovators. “We envision that our Center will facilitate knowledge-exchange among start-ups, established businesses, and LGUs in moving toward digital transformation and software solutions in the areas of smart cities, medical technology, security systems, and digital banking, among others,” he said.