PN Philippines ended 2017 with an IT event assembling various stakeholders to create a network for an efficient and effective IT workforce.
December was a busy month for Passerelles numériques Philippines as we conducted a major IT event on December 5th in Cebu City assembling significant stakeholders in IT from: academia, the government sector, innovation, the IT industry, and non-profit organizations.
The aim of the event “Creating IT Ecosystem for Innovative Digital Workforce” was to create and maintain sustainable coordination and partnership among the stakeholders to support the development of the digital workforce.
One of the highlights of the event was the talk on current market trends in the IT Industry delivered by Accenture Philippines Managing Director, Douglas Yballe.
According to Mr. Yballe, education is the first major challenge we have to face now with the fast-changing evolution of technology.
Moreover, a panel discussion took place to answer questions relating to the event’s theme. The panelists of the discussion were Pastor Ali Najarro (IT Officer from the Department of Education, Cebu City Division), Mary Jane Sabellano (Computer Science Department Chairman of the University of San Carlos), Jun Saa (Managing Director of Cebu IT-Business Process Management.Organization or CIB.O), Orville Avila (Business Application Manager at Aboitiz Equity Venture), and Vince Lorema (Co-founder of Kallfly and Dreamscape).
Panelists during the panel discussion
The discussions highlighted that all of the stakeholders agreed on the existence of a gap between the demands of the dynamic IT workforce and the coping capacity of academia.
An interactive workshop was also organized to let each participant expose their ideas and concerns on the topic.
Participants during the interactive World Cafe workshop
After a day of talks, discussions, workshops and networking, we were able to get two main takeaways from the event: the need to upgrade the IT curriculum in academia to match the demands of the current industry and the importance of constant collaboration between all stakeholders to produce an innovative digital workforce.
Students also participated in the activities of the event including the exhibition of PN’s innovative technologies
The involvement of the PN partners was really tangible during the event; we witnessed the sincerity and quality of their input, their interactions, and their genuine interest in taking action to lift underprivileged youth out of poverty through education. I am proud to see how the event strengthened the relationship between PN and its partners, how PN demonstrated its professionalism in the field of IT and education, as well as the social impact we bring here in the Philippines.
Eleonore Iriart, PN Philippines General Manager making her closing remarks during the event
We in PN Philippines, together with J.P. Morgan, our main partner for the event, want to extend our warm thanks to everyone who participated and made the event possible:
- Companies: Accenture in the Philippines, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc., CT4 – Smarter Cloud, Sizmek, Lexmark Research and Development Corporation, Sschowchow Animation, Alliance Software Inc., DreamSpace PH, Melis Technology, Tallant Asia, House of I.T, NEC Telecom Software Philippines, Inc., RISE/ Synacy, Optum Global Solutions, Inc., Cebu Innovative Network
- Government Sector: Department of Education Region and Department of Trade and Industry
- Non-profit organizations: Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Cedfit (CIB.O)
- Academia: University of San Carlos and CITE Technical Institute, Inc.
- Media: Cebu Daily News, The Freeman, SunStar Cebu, and MANILA BULLETIN.