The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to help local businesses and startups transition into the digital economy through the development and conduct of technology-based training programs.
Signatories to the MOU were PCCI Pres. Amb. Benedicto Yujuico, DTI Sec. Ramon Lopez, PCCI Innovation Center Managing Director Mr. Miguel Yujuico, PCCI Innovation Committee Director Mr. Perry Ferrer.
To prepare the Filipino youth and workforce for Industry 4.0, PCCI and DTI will provide learning opportunities on frontier technologies such as Mobile Application Development, Cloud Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), Robotics, and Blockchain Technology to name a few.
“We do hope that in sharing the same vision of an innovation-led country, the partnership we are forging today will lead to a stronger innovation culture, and develop a vibrant innovation ecosystem, as we are now in the midst of transformation to Industry 4.0.” PCCI Pres. Amb. Yujuico said.
Lopez also expressed his enthusiasm in Amb. Yujuico’s offer of extending the PCCI Innovation Center to DTI as venue for its own B2B meetings and foreign business delegations.
“Our partnership with PCCI stems from our shared commitment to enhance the quality of our human capital and ensure business excellence to developing responsive training programs,” said Lopez.
He cited the PCCI initiative being also in line with the Inclusive Innovation Industrial Strategy (i3S) of the DTI that he envisioned when he was appointed to head the agency.
As former executive of the Go Negosyo where espouse entrepreneurship for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), but he said, they are really pushing for smarter MSMEs.
To be able to have smarter MSMEs as envisioned, Lopez said, it has to be really full of innovations, continuous innovations, continuous creativity.
“That is the kind of entrepreneurs we envisioned for the country because that is where we really can see higher value products, more beautiful design of products, including services. That is the kind of business sector and entrepreneurs we should have in the country,” he said.
He cited the PCCI for having the physical facility that will really enable a lot of young start-ups and entrepreneurs. “This is the kind of entrepreneurs we really want to develop and for this we really like to thank you and congratulate the PCCI family,” he said as he likened the PCCI Innovation Center to that of the Silicon Valley.