THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has begun preparations for the establishment of the $20-million Artificial Intelligence (AI) research hub, to be funded by the country’s top conglomerates.
At the recent 2022 Manufacturing Summit, the Trade department said it has started preparations to set up the Philippines’s Center for AI Research (CAIR). CAIR’s goal is to make the country a Center of Excellence in artificial intelligence and at the same time help the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
“It will be a collaborative hub for training, AI consultancy services, AI product development, and AI technology incubation services that will definitely benefit Philippine MSMEs,” the DTI said in a statement.
In an interview, outgoing Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said the country’s top conglomerates have agreed to be part of the program. In fact, he said that the program will be funded by the private sector. However, Lopez did not name the conglomerates.
“They’re funding it, putting equity. So the project we set up, I can’t dictate [the pace]…as there is no government fund, it’s private-sector led. We did all the groundwork so that it’s all prepared already; only the funding is bein g awaited,” said Lopez, partly in Filipino.
“So that’s why were saying that these private conglomerates are very much interested; they’re together in this, there’s no competition because this is for AI development,” added Lopez.
Meanwhile,at a virtual business forum on Thursday, DTI Undersecretary for the Competitiveness and Innovation Group Rafaelita Aldaba said that based on a study released by Kearney and EDBI, the Philippines has the potential to unlock $92 billion or 12 percent of GDP by 2030 if the country will be able to harness the power of AI.
Aldaba added that the Trade department is pursuing a public-private partnership for the AI research hub, which the Trade undersecretary said already resulted in discussions among conglomerates and other multinational tech companies.
“For the AI [research and development] R&D center, the model or approach that we’re looking at really is it’s going to be a public private partnership and we’ve already discussed quite a lot with many of the conglomerates in the country, except that the talks were temporarily halted during the elections; but we committed to resume the discussions immediately after the elections,” said Aldaba.
“There are many other companies, multinational tech companies actually, who are interested to participate in building this center,” added Aldaba.
She stressed that Vietnam already has its own government-funded AI research center which is tied up with a university. For the Philippines, Aldaba said, “In our case, it’s going to be a partnership to be led by the private sector, which the government is going to support with the universities.”
She added that the academe will also be an important part of this artificial intelligence hub.
On the timeline, Aldaba said the Trade department aims to build it as soon as possible in order so initial operation can start this year or next year at the latest. She said they received pledges from companies “that are interested to offer particular building…location where to put the center but right now we need to raise funds.”
As they are still raising funds, Aldaba said DTI aims to allot the funds for powerful computers as well as salaries of scientists and other researchers who will be working in the AI center.
One of the reasons that pushed DTI to establish an AI research hub is the growing number of tech startups using AI as a core technology in their business model, she explained.
Specifically, according to the presentation of Aldaba, 50+ tech startups in the Philippines are using AI as a core technology in their business model. Applications cover a wide range of industries including fintech, e-commerce, advertising, healthcare, and IoT.
Some of the tech startups which utilize AI are Rumarocket, Paylance, Instalimb, Tangere, Retailgate, Transitflix, Senti, TechAguru, and many more.
The goal of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Roadmap for the Philippines, launched in 2021, is to uplift the lives of the Filipino people, the country’s industries and the economy. Apart from these, the ultimate goal is to make the country an artificial intelligence center for excellence.
“The main recommendation of the roadmap is for us to establish a center for AI research which is important in order to help us accelerate innovation as well as the digitalization of our MSMEs,” said Aldaba.