 During Asia's biggest Information & Communications Technology (ICT) event, a handful of budding Filipino companies are all set to wow the world.
Following the successful participation of the Slingshot Philippines Startup Pavilion and Delegation at the Innovex in 2018, the Manila Economics & Cultural Office, and its commercial affairs section, the Philippine Trade & Investment Center in Taipei have helped bring a selection of top-notch and cutting-edge, high innovation start-ups and community builders to represent the Philippine Start-Up Community and Ecosystem at the Slingshot Philippines Pavilion at INNOVEX 2019. A total of 11 Filipino startups and one incubating center have participated in the event which is done at the sidelines of the grand five-day ICT show COMPUTEX Taipei 2019. Read more: Manila Standard  Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) — Manila is among the friendliest cities in the world for financial technology (fintech) startups, according to a global research firm.
Startup Genome released its annual Global Startup Ecosystem Report on May 9, placing Manila in its Top 10 Global Ecosystems of 2019. Manila also ranked among the Top 5 locations in the “activation phase,” or those which are developing. Among these cities were Taipei in Taiwan, Busan in South Korea, Calgary in Canada and Frankfurt in Germany. Strong English-language skills and well-established outsourcing industries in Manila were cited as key drivers that encourage investors to move their startup operations to the Philippine capital. Fintech companies compose 15 percent of Manila’s startups, with the market expected to grow to $10.5 billion by 2022 from about $5.7 billion last year. Read more: CNN Philippines The Philippines climbed four places to rank 46th out of 63 economies in the IMD World Competitiveness Rankings 2019.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the improvement in the country’s ranking was a precursor to more positive results from other competitiveness surveys. “For the past year, the entire government—executive, legislative, judiciary —has been working as one to promote national and regional competitiveness. With the latest results of the IMD competitiveness rankings, we underscore the initial outcomes from this whole of government approach and increased private-public sector collaboration,” Lopez said. Read more: Manila Standard  Manila Economic and Cultural Office Chairman and Representative Angelito T. Banayo and MECO Trade Representative and Director of Commercial Affairs Michael Alfred V. Ignacio met with FoxConn Chairman Terry Gou at the sidelines of InnoVEX 2019 where the Slingshot PHILIPPINES Startup Ecosystem Pavilion has a prominent presence.
Mr. Gou said, he intends to invest in the Phiippines and to set up an R&D Center in the country in South East Asia along with another in Singapore as the global conglomerate’s R&D hubs in Southeast Asia. He recognized the expertise of the Philippines in IT Services and Software Development and lauded the Filipino’s proficiency in English as world-class. Read more: Manila Standard  MANILA has one of the most conducive start-up ecosystems in the world, as it ranked high in multiple categories of a report assessing the environment for new enterprises.
Along with Taipei, Busan, Calgary and Frankfurt, Manila was listed as one of the top activation phase ecosystems in the world, according to Startup Genome’s 2019 Global Startup Ecosystem Report. The Philippine capital placed 10th in the global competition for Bang for Buck. It ranked fifth in the activation ecosystem for connectedness, as well as in exit growth index. Moreover, Manila was sixth across the world in output growth index and ninth in funding growth index. The assessment also put the city’s financial technology (fintech) industry in the spotlight, as it comprised 15 percent of all start-ups. According to the report, Manila’s fintech transaction value last year amounted to about $5.7 billion and is projected to hit $10.5 billion by 2022. Read more: Business Mirror  Taipei, May 29 (CNA) The Philippines' representative office in Taiwan on Wednesday showcased 11 cutting edge and innovative startups representing the Philippine start-up community at InnoVEX 2019, the startup-focused exhibition at Computex Taipei.
The startups, which feature technologies that include artificial intelligence, machine learning, geospatial mapping, housing solutions, cyber-security, advertising and e-commerce, FinTech, logistics and market research, were showcased at InnoVEX's "Slingshot Philippines Pavilion," at the Taipei World Trade Center. In addition to the startups, two incubators was also featured at the pavilion set up by the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Taipei (PTIC-Taipei), the commercial affairs section of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan. Read more: Focus Taiwan AFTER the country’s successful participation in the Slingshot Philippines Startup Pavilion and Delegation at InnoVEX 2018, 11 start-up companies will represent the Philippine start-up community in InnoVEX 2019 to be held from May 29 to 31, 2019, at the Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei City, Taiwan.
The Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC)-Taipei, in cooperation with the Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) and QBO Innovation Hub, will bring the progressive start-ups and community builders that offer cutting-edge innovation in diverse and currently relevant fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, geospatial mapping, innovative housing solutions, cyber security, smart advertising and e-commerce, education, fintech, logistics, and data science-enabled market research. “We are very excited to support the Slingshot Philippines Startup Ecosystem Pavilion and Delegation at Innovex this year, given that technology innovation cooperation is one of our priority industry collaboration areas with Taiwan. Recognizing Taiwan’s strengths and global leadership position in electronics manufacturing and technology innovation and leveraging the Philippines’s substantial market-size, global market access, emerging innovation community and the creative talents of our globally sought-after human resource—the partnership between our startup communities will be a win-win collaboration for the two next door neighbors in today’s changing economic and technology landscape,” Meco Chairman and Resident Representative Angelito T. Banayo said. Read more: Business Mirror  Lopez-majority owned Energy Development Corporation (EDC) is targeting to expand geothermal investments in Taiwan, a top executive of the conglomerate has disclosed to the media.
“In Taiwan, we have concession, and we’re working with the proponents to see what we can do. We hope to do one thing in Taiwan… we’re talking to a number of local players,” EDC Board Director Francis Giles B. Puno said. The Lopez company executive explained that they somehow have leverage in Taiwan “because we work with the utilities there and many of them are substantially untapped potential because they need the expertise as well. In that sense, EDC can provide that.” At this stage, he noted that what EDC has is basically a “concession” for a geothermal service area for exploration, hence, the target is to ensure first that the prospects would eventually yield commercially-viable outcome. Yet even prior to this targeted investment entry in Taiwan, Puno qualified that EDC is considerably a globally entrenched player in the geothermal sector – primarily in the provision of exploration and drilling services in key markets like Kenya and Japan. Read more: Manila Bulletin The Philippines bagged top ranks in five categories in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report by policy advisory services provider and researcher Startup Genome, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Tuesday.
In a statement, DTI said the country was recognized for the following aspects: Global Ecosystem for Bang for Buck (top 10), Activation Ecosystem for Connectedness (top 5), Exit Growth Index (top 5), Output Growth Index (top 6) and Funding Growth Index (top 9). Read more: The Manila Times  JAKARTA/SAN FRANCISCO -- Levana Sani left Jakarta nine years ago to study biochemistry at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. Graduating in 2014, Levi -- as she prefers to be called -- was torn between pursuing a career in science by working on a Ph.D., or studying for an MBA with the idea of eventually returning home to start a business. It was Asia's burgeoning tech startup scene that cemented her decision.
"In my mind, there's always this idealistic picture and the realistic picture," Levi says, sitting in a bustling coworking space she shares with other local startups in South Jakarta, a business district of high-rise office buildings. "The idealistic picture is, I'm gonna be in the U.S., I'm gonna be a great scientist ... but then there's also, I wanna give back to [my] country." Over time, she adds, "It became less of a responsibility ... more of an opportunity," noting that while Indonesia is not a great place to be an aspiring scientist, for those who want to start a business, "Southeast Asia seems to be just the next big thing." Read more: Nikkei Asian Review |
ABOUT PTIC TAIPEI
The Philippine Trade & Investment Center in Taipei is the Commercial Affairs Section of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office and the representative office of the Philippine Department of Trade & Industry in Taiwan Archives
July 2019
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