By Dennis Posadas

WITH the rise of institutions like the UP Ayala Technohub (a Silicon Valley-like enclave at the UP Diliman campus) and Filipinos like Dado Banatao (hardware/semiconductors) and Winston Damarillo (open source software), one would think that we are on our way to developing a local Silicon Valley-type environment like Beijing’s Zhongguancun district or India’s Bangalore. It is nice to talk and dream about these things, especially since we have a lot of technopreneurs in ICT, in telecoms, in software, hardware and other technologies. But as Kevin Costner said in the movie Field of Dreams, “if you build it they will come.” By it, we mean an ecosystem for innovation.

First we need a source of innovation. Typically, it can come from universities like UP, government R&D labs, private corporations that have research arms, or even individuals. The problem sometimes with innovation that comes from corporations that do research, as in the case of Route 128 in Boston, Massachusetts in the 60’s and 70’s, is that oftentimes these are confidential research. No wonder, it is research done for the advancement of the business, and not some altruistic “blue sky” research.

On the other hand, universities oftentimes engage in extremely theoretical research, because their aim is primarily knowledge creation. “Publish or perish” is the credo often heard in the academe, and to do research with business overtones has traditionally been viewed as a sellout to the establishment. So here you have two extremes, pulling scientists and engineers towards the two ends of the spectrum. Another source of innovation are the government R&D institutions like the DoST ASTI, which has developed the Bayanihan Linux operating system for example.

[Read the rest of this entry »]