Government needed to push innovation, says tech entrepreneur

Nov 23 2020 10:00 PM

MANILA – Government support is central to nurturing innovation in a country, a Filipino tech entrepreneur said on Monday. 

Mario Domingo, a former executive at Globe Telecom, said the “government is in the very center of the technology, providing all the incentives, academic participation.” 

“Government is an integral part of driving innovation forward,” Domingo said. 

He cited the success of South Korea and Japan as well as the increasing innovation capabilities of Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Thailand, all of which had tech sectors that were supported by their governments. 

Domingo is the founder of the Domingo AI (Artificial Intelligence) Research Center Foundation, as well as Group Chief Technology Officer at Chi-X Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd., a financial technology company providing advanced trading solutions for market operators.

He also currently teaches at the Ateneo Institute for the Digital Enterprise. 

Domingo said, with enough government support, the next big innovation may very well come from the Philippines as he highlighted the inherent creativity of Filipinos.

The current health crisis, while unfortunate, can also provide a good stage for Filipinos to innovate, he said. 

“This is an opportunity for Filipinos to do something. We’re really good, we just need a platform to do good,” he explained.

He added, the next big innovation may be in the healthcare and supply-chain industries as a result of the pandemic.

To help inspire and teach Filipinos to be more innovative, Domingo launched his debut book called, “The Creative Innovation Launchpad: Building a Culture of Innovation”.

One piece of advice he gives to would-be innovators is that they should keep on developing a product or service until at least one customer is “willing to try it for free.”

Entrepreneurs who are looking to start their business using mostly their own money should not give any equity away at first. Instead, they should offer convertible preferred stock to potential funders or investors.

“One of the biggest challenges in the Philippines today is there’s so much competition for capital because people have a lot of areas where they can put their money on,” he explained.

SOURCE: https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/11/23/20/government-needed-to-push-innovation-says-tech-entrepreneur