As companies are now gearing to recover from the devastation brought about by the pandemic, corporate leaders believe that innovation will get them prepared for the subsequent period of growth. If one looks up the word innovation in the dictionary, definitions such as discovery, creativity, plan, change, or idea would come up, which are few of the words that will more likely outline economic recovery. And with the Covid-19 crisis impact on businesses, corporations should employ innovation that is substantial, novel, and sustainable in order to enhance the value and push growth.
IGNITE Cyber 2021, the largest international innovation conference in the Philippines, was back with a new paradigm which was hinged on the theme “Corporate Innovation Towards Recovery and Growth”, and featured thought leaders from all over the Asian region. This four-day event was done in partnership with Shell LiveWIRE (the global flagship enterprise development program of Shell), Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), ROHTO Pharmaceuticals, Korea Tourism Organization, Y&Archer, and Travel Tech to promote collaboration by providing global opportunities to the prospering startup ecosystem. JETRO showcased Japan startups that the company have helped and tackled how these companies’ technologies have adjusted to and survived the global pandemic, while Shell LiveWIRE led the discussion about the use of innovation to address social good and presented their social impact products and services.
“Shell LiveWire has attracted more than 500 startups in social and community enterprises. The program has successfully drawn over 390 applicants from across the nation, which is more than twice the application last year,” President and CEO of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Cesar Romero said during his Opening Remarks.
ROHTO Pharmaceuticals led discussions about health and wellness, in a time of a global health scare, and how the health and wellness startups have disrupted the status quo in this landscape with their help. On the other hand, Y&Archer, another Korean company presented pitches from their country and highlighted how they are making huge improvements in areas of communication, education, medicine, entertainment, and health and wellness. Finally, it is undeniable that travel has been one of the greatly impacted industry during the lockdown and on the last day, the Korea Tourism Organization presented some tech startups that continued to expand given the circumstances.
The Ignite Team, composed of TechShake and Denstu X, also brought together pioneering startup and innovation groups from all over the Philippines. Leaders of these groups pitched their ground-breaking ideas and the ones chosen per category were awarded with up to P500,000 to finance their business concepts.
Another exciting feature for this year’s IGNITE is the most extensive innovation-centric business matching and networking event called “Match” launching on the Brella app. In this AI-powered matchmaking app, participants can maximize their event experience by bringing the right people together, thus, enhancing the importance of creating new opportunities and building relationships. Participants can also build their presence by staging their startup in the virtual business booths.
Fueling innovation through startups
Any global innovation should be sustainable and supported by a commitment for growth. Thus, Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez, in his keynote statement during the virtual event, said the DTI fully supports modern and innovative startups through its partnerships and its homegrown development programs such as the Global Acceleration Program (GAP) which seeks to help accelerate the growth of viable tech startups with priority given to those that address the challenges brought about by the pandemic; and the Strategic MSMLE and Startup Link (SMARTLink) which connects MSMEs with startups or digital enterprises that can provide digital solution for their operations, chatbots for customer management, human resource, e-payments, and payroll management, among others.
DTI’s Startup Acceleration and Incubation (StartupAID) focuses on the concerns of startups through customized programs intended to assist them as they grow, scale-up, and advance towards putting their products out in the market. Being one of the chief host agencies of the International and Local Exposure Assistance Program (iLEAP), the DTI supports the growth of local startups and the development of the country’s startup ecosystem as a whole. By doing so, more entrepreneurial opportunities are enabled to eventually establish more job-generating businesses.
Lopez also mentioned about the National Development Company (NDC) and its P250M Startup Venture Fund (SVF program) which provides matching investment by selected investors for qualified innovative startups with high-growth potential. “Due to the unprecedented crisis brought by the pandemic, startup jobs are considered to be more future-proof as the economy gradually transitions to digital services. Thus, people working on these jobs will potentially have more in-demand skills moving forward to the post-pandemic future,” the DTI Secretary, who has been blazing through determination and advocating for free entrepreneurship for almost 12 years, said.
Startups igniting innovation
Being a celebration of innovation and technology, Ignite Cyber 2021 has become a valuable venue where startups pitch and demonstrate their trailblazing business concepts to distinguished international investors and influencers during the pitch competition. This virtual event also featured a virtual exhibit of their products and services, local and international technologies, hoping to be the spark for local founders to take their ideas to the next level.
IGNITE’s WILDFIRE Pitch Event with Shell LiveWIRE, which is the most-awaited part of the IGNITE Cyber 2021, three startup teams namely Panublix, Agro-DigitalPH, and Sachi Group pitched to selected judges for the day. Among these startups, Agro-DigitalPH won this year’s Shell LiveWIRE Final Pitch Day. A startup seeking to empower farmers and fishers, Agro-DigitalPH has developed several cloud-based applications that cover the digital food value chain.
With focus on Social Good, Agro-Digital PH—led by its CEO Henry James Sison—got the much-coveted prize to finance their business concept. Agro-Digital PH is Value Chain Solutions for all cooperatives and small farmer organizations (mainly within Cagayan, Batangas, and Bicol) with the aim to harness the power of virtual aggregation for farmer cooperatives and associations. With this concept, the group intends to patronize and enjoy local farmers’ produce for institutional buyers and retail consumers to uplift the lives of the producers, by cutting the middleman and allowing farmers to operate their own businesses, decreasing the demand-supply mismatch.
This business leverages economies of scale by consolidating demand, synchronizing production, and coordinating fulfillment. There is indeed strength in numbers when individual farmers join hands to fulfill commitments requiring large volumes and consistent quality. Agro-Digital PH provides direct access to the market, espousing fixed price, fixed term contracts that see farmers’ produce through fair eyes thus, reducing instances of margin-on-margin increases farmers’ revenues and, at the same time, enables consumers to enjoy better prices.
“We are advocates of change and we are committed to uplift the lives of food producers through education and establishing a food system that puts a premium on trust and transparency,” Sison, Agro-said. This Batangas-based startup was adjudged as the winner and bagged the P500,000 grand prize.
Other enterprises for this year’s Shell LiveWIRE Acceleration Program such as included Coron Natural Farms, Kure, Seeds & Scales Vegetables Farms, RMC Oil and Eco Solutions, San Isidro Multi-purpose Cooperative, and Solchi Solutions were also highlighted in the event.
The digital leap to innovation
As more and more successful initiatives emerge, the trend towards digital innovation is gaining traction. Adapting to digital transformation can foster innovation, according to JETRO, especially during this pandemic that has rapidly changed the world of innovation and technology. JETRO’s goal is to create innovation through direct investment in Japan and by supporting Japanese startups such a s RevComm, Inc., Global Mobility Service, Axelspace Corp., Asilla, Inc., Trustdock, Inc., Aidemy, Inc., Kotozna, Inc., Tenchijin, Inc., Net Smile, and Sagrih—to expand globally.
Keynote speaker Richard B. Dasher, Director of US-Asia Technology Management Center and Adjunct Professor at Stanford University, frequent disruptive innovations change lives and are evidence of an industrial revolution and we are, in fact, in the middle of two industrial revolutions (IR). Dr. Dasher believes that we are in between the Digital Information Communication Technology IR when digital data capture, storage, and processing—including the mainframe-terminal, client-server, and cloud—are introduced from the 140s to the present and the fourth IR which started from 2010 until the present, when new ways of creating value from data, new tools and solutions, AI, edge, and quantum computing has played a significant role.
“The response to this industrial revolution is digital transformation in the way you do business. Digital technology, data and new IT tools have been changing businesses and if a corporation is open to innovation and partnership, it is best to outsource globally or use external providers for partners in digital transformation so corporations could strengthen its own innovation pipeline through technical perfection and on-time delivery,” Dr. Dasher suggested.
He further cited Cloudian, a software solution founded in Tokyo, Japan in 2011 by Hiroshi Ota and Michael Tso. Cloudian, he said, offers the industry’s most cost-effective, highest-density hardware platforms to save you space and cost. And with a simple modular design, you can start small and grow your enterprise with limitless scalable storage that consolidates massive data sets to a single and easily manageable environment.
“Digital transformation is about how you change your business in order to take advantage of the new data and new IT tools. There is an intrinsically global aspect of cloud computing and all these new digital tools. They have no natural geographic borders. So, you should aim for a world-class technology core and be prepared to make that interface with localized components,” Dr. Dasher emphasized.
Startups and the new and better normal
What brings together knowledge and innovation is the willingness to emerge to one’s culture because embracing digital transformation is key for staying competitive and budding. However, to succeed in the digital transformation journey is not as simple as having the capability to execute modern technologies in your business. One should also be compelled to rethink the strategy, culture, and team structure of the business. Innovation is a choice, but it always has to be backed by a commitment to put one’s organization on a new growth trajectory through purposeful action and resource allocation. If the business team is committed to achieve what digital transformation can do for your business, goals could easily be achieved.
A panel consisted of Nick Broomfield, global client director for Transformation Consulting at Dentsu international; Ee Ling Lim, head of APAC Business Development at 500 Startups; Xavier Marzan, managing director/CEO of F(DEV), shared how their organizations perceive digital transformation and innovation and discussed digital confirmation in the time of Covid.
“Covid has pushed companies to its tipping point and accelerated digital transformation that the focus now has shifted to resourcing, resources budget, and the increase of the use of customers by driving enhanced online experience through the digital technology. To enhance customer experience, data now is being used to understand customers to be able to provide them with personal, connected, and relevant loyalty programs, for better experience,” Broomfield explained.
Startups have an advantage in digital transformation than any other corporation because, by definition, they are just getting started. They have no deeply ingrained habits yet thus, there is not much disruption, making transformation relatively easier. On the other hand, startups often lack the industry experience to identify and address issues before they become problems. Startups that digitize and leverage their data more effectively can beat those already established businesses that still rely on paper.
With startups employing digital technologies such as data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, they could make workflow more seamless, utilize trends, and scale practices. As the economy braces a better post-pandemic normal, more startups will adopt digital transformation as a means for generating new revenue prospects to compete with larger players.
Onwards to innovation towards recovery and growth
Every successful innovation in history has come from a three-pronged who-what-why cause and resolution: a dissatisfied customer, a technology that engenders a solution, and a business prototype that empowers you to monetize that resolution. Thus, the innovation has to be compelling, it has to benefit the end-user or the customer, and to win, businesses have to find an opportunity for the innovation to take on a market.
Business leaders should also choose what specific innovations to prioritize, especially those that promote social good. Successful innovations stem from the generation of novel concepts melded in a very structured and purposeful way. Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing good things. Start-ups from all around the world have proven that, despite so much uncertainty, creativity and innovation are combined forces in making a mark of change in this world. What makes them distinct from one another is how they carry out their mission and how their inventions can be utilized to address a problem because every push for economic stability is the catalyst for innovation, recovery, and growth.
To know more about IGNITE Cyber 2021, check out IGNITE PH’s website: https://www.ignite.ph/.
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