By Erika Tapalla
INQUIRER.net

ALTHOUGH being primarily a Philippine web-based Web 2.0 technology company focused on providing innovative technologies and applications to support software as a service globally, Morph Labs is reaching out to aspiring students and entrepreneurs to develop Web-based software.

To kick off the bootcamp eat the Institute of Social Order building in the Ateneo de Manila University, Federico C. “Dickie” Gonzalez, president and CEO of Philippine Emerging Startups Open Inc. (PESO), which runs the PESO Challenge, a technology business plan competition, talked about developing great ideas.

He said great ideas can come from anywhere at any time but the key is shaping them to make them world-class, since we are living in a global economy.

Gonzalez offered 12 dimensions of innovating businesses; however, he said the best way is to learn from the prime examples today.

What do you have to offer? Think iTunes and the iPhone — how can your product can be relevant and how can it cater to certain customers? In developing any idea, think of the underserved needs and wants of your customer and discover how you can solve it.

Another suggestion he made was to maximize platforms and use common components to create derivative offerings. Social networks like Multiply, Facebook, and Friendster rooted from the concept of simply keeping in touch with friends and relatives in different parts of the globe. Today, they have evolved to become more than a platform for leaving messages. Pets can be “petted” on Facebook; calendars, videos and pictures can be shared on Multiply; a web of friends can be created on Friendster.

He hit it on the spot when he said in his presentation that it is no longer is about learning about technology or utilizing these tools available to you.

“It’s about making meaning in the functions of life so you could make it better for you and perhaps, the people around you,” he said.