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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Japanese firm's AI tech tapped for Philippine disaster response

Japanese firm's AI tech tapped for Philippine disaster response

Published Oct 15, 2024 02:15 am

Japanese tech firm Spectee Inc.'s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered crisis management information system is expected to enhance disaster response in the Philippines, according to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

In a statement, JICA Philippines said its senior representative Jiro Oshima and Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Assistant Secretary Philip A. Varilla signed a public-private partnership (PPP) collaboration agreement last Sept. 24, together with Spectee chief operating officer (COO) Satoshi Negoro, who joined the signing ceremony virtually from Tokyo, Japan.

This collaboration will roll-out Spectee's "affordable" cloud-based technology called Spectee Pro, which, JICA Philippines noted, in real-time extracts useful data points from social media by using AI-image and -language analyses.

In particular, JICA Philippines and Spectee with the DICT's help will come-up with a localized version of Spectee Pro.

A preliminary 80 government agencies as well as local government units (LGUs) will enjoy a limited-period free use of Spectee Pro. These LGUs include Cebu City; Davao City; Legazpi City, Albay; Metro Manila; Tacloban City, Leyte; and Tagbilaran City, Bohol.

"Apart from trainings and simulations, there will be a constant feedback mechanism, taking into account actual conditions on the ground, to ensure that any improvements made to the system are relevant and useful to the end-users," JICA Philippines said.

The Japanese aid agency said Spectee Pro will improve local and national disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) systems, as the government can quickly collect, process and communicate vital information when calamities strike.

"This is a welcome development as the urgent need for climate resilience was brought up once again when the Philippines was named by the 2024 World Risk Report as the country most at risk of natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons, and volcanic eruptions. The country's vulnerability requires further capacity development to be improved to properly and immediately respond to disasters," it said.

Spectee Pro is already being "successfully" used by the Japanese government and private companies in Japan, including the media, JICA Philippines pointed out.

"We strongly believe that our AI disaster and crisis management solution Spectee Pro can contribute to strengthening the resilience of the Philippines facing increasing natural disasters caused by climate change. We will do our best to proceed this project successfully for the bright future of the Philippines and Japan," Negoro was quoted by JICA Philippines as saying.

Related Tags

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF)
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