Imagine Cup to boost support for Pinoy software developers

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has embarked on a partnership with Microsoft Philippines to conduct the 12th edition of Imagine Cup, an annual student competition of  software applications addressing national problems in health, education, e-government, and others, as DOST’s Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) continues to support local talents in the industry.

To be held in April 2014, Imagine Cup aims to encourage schools to institutionalize ICT-enabled innovation initiatives in their respective campuses in order to become hubs for ideas that will help solve real-life problems, the DOST said in a report.

DOST’s Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO) Deputy Executive Director Monchito Ibrahim, who represented the Department in the signing of the Memorandum of  Understanding with Microsoft  last November 5 at Shangri-la Makati, said that Filipino software developers are definitely at par with their foreign counterparts as they are naturally resourceful and creative.

According to Ibrahim,it is not impossible to see their out-of-the-box concepts implemented and make the operation of government offices faster, more reliable and more efficient.

The key to a concept’s marketability, he said, is for the software developer to consider issues and challenges in the Philippines that may be addressed by ICT-enabled solutions prior to product development.

Having fulfilled this, the software developer may be considered as a viable contributor in the country’s drive towards sustainable development, Ibrahim noted.

Some of the recent winners of Imagine Cup are team Divide Zero that developed KidCAMP, a web and mobile application that enhances special education to improve autism communication tools, and Team Signum Fidei that developed a mobile application puzzle game called Conjuct, where the player is required to clear boards overlaid with photos of real-life problems around the world.

The Imagine Cup 2012 grand prize winners will represent the country in the Microsoft Cup Design Competition.

“Microsoft’s Imagine Cup is vital to promoting the science and technology capability of our student developers in achieving innovations that are geared towards delivering economic and social benefits,” said DOST Undersecretary Louis Casambre.

“We look forward to more partnerships like this with Microsoft in order to sustain the development of programs that harness the talents and skills of Filipinos in science and technology and at the same time, give them the opportunity to potentially contribute to the economy through entrepreneurship,” he added.

Last year, ICTO teamed up with the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) for the Spring.ph initiative, a start-up coaching and mentoring program that aims to produce at least 10 start-ups with annual revenues of at least US$1M by 2016.

ICTO intends to align and harmonize efforts in promoting entrepreneurship in ICT, in order to strengthen the Philippine startup ecosystem and support new and upcoming startups for them to be globally recognized, Ibrahim said.

Based on a report released by PSIA, the software development industry is expected to generate revenues of $1.5 billion by the end of 2013, compared with the $1.16 billion it earned last year.

At the same time, the number of I.T professionals is also expected to grow higher by 33 percent from 60,000 in 2013 to 80,000 by the end of  2013. (FREEMAN)