The Philippines has a "very big" potential to be a technological hub considering the country's young and talented workforce, President Marcos said.
Marcos said in a recent media interview that the country can be a technological hub, capitalizing on available technological advancements and aided by its workforce.
“We have a very big advantage of that because again, as I keep saying because it's true0, it’s our workforce. Because we have a young workforce, they are good when it comes to technology. Technology is easy for us and perhaps with the talent that we already have in the Philippines, eith a little more upskilling and we will already be at the forefront of this technology,” he said in mixed English and Filipino.
“So that’s what we were able to explore and it just— it goes beyond just the application of technologies. It’s also how to open the markets to the different elements of the technology — the tech industry, such as the experts, the engineers, the coders, all of that," he pointed out.
The President said that he and his team learned many things about the thinking of American planners in the tech industry and about what part the Philippines can play during his weeklong visit in the United States.
He added that there were also commitments made for continued discussions to put more details, stressing that one of the most exciting things was the opening or centering of the market around the Philippines to make the country a technological hub.
However, he said the country has to overcome some hurdles and must create an ecosystem that is very useful for start-ups which, unfortunately, have a very high failure rate.
“Kasi kung technology ang pag-uusapan, kailangan bago lahat, kailangan ma-encourage natin ang mga start-ups (If we are talking about technology, everything must be new, we must encourge the start-ups). Ang problema sa(The problem with) start-ups, 95 percent of them fail but that’s the nature of the business,” he explained.
“You have to have an ecosystem that can (counter) that failure rate because doon sa 5 percent na nag-succeed, ilan and unicorn d’yan. They will pull up the rest of the systems so that’s essentially what we spoke about. What are the new systems that we can put into play to make the Philippines a center of the emerging technologies," he said.
Marcos said while in the US, they were able to meet with some brilliant people who are very forward thinking and who can aid the Philippines in terms of technology.
“Kaya nating gawin (We can do it), because in terms of technology, hindi ito yung (this is not) smokestack industry that you have to have very large capital investments in, you have to buy very expensive machines, you have to have big production lines. Iba ito (This is different),” he said.
Delving on security with regard to artificial intelligence (AI), he said that this new technology must be properly regulated and monitored to prevent it from being exploited by criminals, from being used as a tool to disseminate fake news, and other undesirable possibilities.