Experts call for research grants fund hike

Former National Computer Center Chairman Ike Seneres made this call on Saturday in a forum held at the Ortigas Center in Pasig City, saying that growth in researches will lead to the creation of patents that will strengthen the country’s competitiveness in the emerging knowledge-based economy. (Photo by catherinecronin/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

MANILA — The government should increase its research grants to universities to help create innovative solutions through information and communications technology (ICT) to ensure that the Internet of Things (IOT) will help the country advance.

Former National Computer Center Chairman Ike Seneres made this call on Saturday in a forum held at the Ortigas Center in Pasig City, saying that growth in researches will lead to the creation of patents that will strengthen the country’s competitiveness in the emerging knowledge-based economy.

“We must increase patents in the country as these create new value added to our economy. New value added creates new wealth which leads to reduction of poverty in the country,” Seneres said.

According to the ICT expert, most of the Philippines’ neighboring countries in Southeast Asia such as Singapore and Malaysia have increased their funding on science and technology, which resulted in higher economic development.

“I hope that the government will be able to create a mechanism that will increase funding of the researches of our universities with the end goal of increasing patents,” he added.

He said emerging IOT technology is seen to improve the living standards of Filipinos as it can create innovations in various sectors especially in agriculture, health and transportation.

For instance, farmers can decide on the suitable season and areas to plant crops such as rice and corn through sensors that are capable of providing information about crop yields, rainfall, pest infestation, and soil nutrition that will improve their farming techniques.

Passengers and motorists can also plan their travels through real time mapping of congested roads which may be activated through sensors installed on automobiles with the information presented through their mobile apps.

The former government official hopes that the Philippines will be able to provide cloud-based services through the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry as it shifts from voice to data.

15,000 free Wi-Fi zones

For his part, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) officer-in-charge Eliseo Rio said the agency aims to provide free internet nationwide through the rollout of at least 15,000 free Wi-Fi zones yearly.

This, as the government pursues the implementation and construction of a new broadband infrastructure that will provide internet capabilities equivalent to those being provided by major telecommunications players in the country.

The Luzon Bypass Infrastructure consisting of two cable landing stations in Baler, Aurora and Poro Point in San Fernando, La Union connected by a 250-kilometer cable network corridor will facilitate the implementation of the National Broadband Plan, free public Wi-Fi program, National Government Portal and other projects of the DICT.

The infrastructure provides a terrestrial bypass route for international submarine cable systems seeking diversity from the Luzon Strait, which is prone to multiple simultaneous submarine cable breaks.

Under an agreement signed last month, Facebook will provide frequency spectrum of two terabits per second, part of which may be given to a possible third telco player that may operate the infrastructure on behalf of the government.

“The infrastructure will enable the third telco player to come in. We will be giving part of the 2 terabits to the new players at no cost. Bahala na sila how to monetize it (It is up to them how they will monetize it). As long as the new telco agrees to provide its services to unserved and underserved areas of the country,” according to Rio.

Rio advises new telco providers to invest into the installation of fixed lines because of the limited spectrum for mobile services that are currently being controlled by Smart and Globe.

The Luzon Bypass Infrastructure will operate for 25 years from 2019 to 2044 and may be renewed 25 years thereafter.

The provision of free Wi-FI and the installation of the broadband infrastructure are seen by the DICT as short-term solutions in improving the speed and access of the Internet as the Philippines needs more than 60,000 cell sites to be competitive internationally with their construction expected to last up to 20 years.