THE Embassy of India held the first India-Philippines Tech Summit (IPTS) last week to help boost economic and strategic linkages through the use of digital technology.
At the event, Ambassador Shambhu Kumaran cited the need for developing countries to develop partnerships among themselves—particularly in security, people-to-people ties, and the economy.
“With the arrival of AI [or artificial intelligence, there will be more changes. There is a need for a partnership. This summit is the beginning],” Kumaran said.
According to the ambassador, the summit would bring-in Indian entrepreneurs and their success stories to the country’s digital space: “For the Philippines, India offers an opportunity to study, adopt, synergize, and cooperate.”
Specifically, the summit brought Indian “unicorns” or startup companies valued at over $1 billion that are privately owned and unlisted on a share market, plus those in the agriculture, health care and financial technology or fintech sector to the Philippines.
For the envoy, the IPTS 2024 was a venue to gather stakeholders in the digital domain, provide an unprecedented opportunity for networking, as well as explore mutually beneficial government-to-business and business-to-business linkages.
Meanwhile, Secretary Ivan John Uy of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said the Philippine government remains keen on maintaining its partnerships with the private sector.
The DICT chief shared that there are several areas now under negotiation with the Indian government on cybersecurity and digital transformation.
“The summit is a fitting renewal of cooperation and celebration of the establishment of diplomatic ties between [our] countries,” Uy said in a recorded speech.
The one-day IPTS was organized by the DICT, the Philippines Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Around 300 participants from agriculture, health care and fintech companies, representatives of Philippine government agencies and businesses, as well as angel investors, venture capital firms and incubators gathered for the event.
Apart from networking opportunities, the summit featured panel discussions from experts in the fields from the aforementioned sectors.