Gov’to help ICT sector attain $50-B goal by ’16

THE government early this week launched an initiative to spur the country’s information and communication technology (ICT) sector and help it attain its goal to grow to a “$50-billion industry by 2016.”

The Information and Communication Technology Office (ICTO), an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on matters related with information technology, began to map out the industry with the help of the Statistical Research and Training Center.

The project was launched at the ICTO headquarters in UP Diliman.

The joint project may take eight months to be completed and will cost the P4.8 million, said Alejandro Melchor III, ICTO deputy executive director.

The ICT Industry Mapping Project initially was introduced to stakeholders of various subsectors, including telecommunications and business process outsourcing.

“It is very important to understand the dynamics within the sector, as well as its linkages outside,” DOST-ICTO Undersecretary Louis Casambre said.

Melchor stressed that the database arising from the project would play an integral role in its long-term aim to turn the ICT sector into a $50-billion industry by 2016.

“We have seen how ICT has developed economies and transform lives. So, an industry mapping is important,” Melchor said.

Melchor said that such targets could only be achieved through carefully structured and strategically placed programs.

Erniel B. Barrios, the project team leader, explained that as part of the mapping project, experts would review existing plans and policies of the government and ICT associations.

“We would know if there is a necessity for additional legislation to improve the sector. What matters most is, where we are heading and how we are going to ensure that ICT will remain the fastest growing industry in the country,” Barrios said.

The industry mapping project will also examine and assess the ICT industry and its segments, its state of performance, as well as its contribution to the country’s overall employment and income.

Barrios said the teams working on the project would also look into current and future trends in the sector.

Since no similar study has been done on the sector before, Barrios said, the project outcome would serve as a benchmark for those concerned.  Niña P. Calleja