In celebration of this year's National ICT Month, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), in partnership with Huawei Philippines, began a series of workshops on emerging technologies to empower Filipinos and boost the readiness of government agencies, local government units (LGUs), and the academe for the adoption of 5G technology in the country.
The "Emerging Technology Workshop – 5G ASEAN Landscape," held online on June 25, gathered a hundred participants from key government agencies, including the DICT, the National Economic and Development Authority, the National Telecommunications Commission, and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, as well as from LGUs and universities, such as the Bulacan State University.
Speakers were Dr. Simon Tsang, Director of Huawei Digital Transformation and Business Module Innovation; Hu Ke, Senior Expert for Huawei 5G Solution; and Alex Lee, Senior Consultant for Huawei Global ICT Talent Development. Both speakers and participants engaged in an interactive discussion on 5G-related technology standards and business models, 5G trends, and 5G applications in various industries in the Philippines.
In his speech during the online workshop, DICT Assistant Secretary Atty. Alvin Navarro highlighted how 5G had become a crucial technology for global socio-economic development. "5G-centric innovative ICT technologies are being applied to various industries and sectors to accelerate the development of the economy," he said.
Asec Navarro added that as the Philippines is on the cusp of the digital economy, "we really have to upgrade what we know and the tools that we use." For this reason, he commended Huawei Philippines for conducting the 5G seminar workshop and offering the workshop series in collaboration with the DICT. The workshop covered "5G examples tied to government policies and initiatives as well as the 5G job roles and competencies that will support its deployment."
Huawei Philippines Vice President Daniel Guo expressed support for the DICT's goal of making the country an inclusive digital Philippines. Guo thanked the DICT and the ICT Literacy and Competency Development Bureau "for making the event possible and for mounting a very successful ICT Month."
"DICT's theme 'Onwards Through ICT: Building a Stronger Philippine Digital Economy' is very much in line with Huawei's advocacy of promoting industry development by strengthening the knowledge and expertise of partners and customers," Guo said, adding that the partnership between the DICT and Huawei will help the Philippine ICT sector to develop more sustainably.
The 5G ASEAN Landscape workshop is the first out of six seminar workshops. The DICT and Huawei will jointly host to equip participants with knowledge of new technologies needed to advance in the global digital economy. For the upcoming events, the workshops will cover timely topics such as the digital economy and industry innovation, security insights, big data and artificial intelligence, and cloud-based services, among others.