An innovative link to globalization

Education enhances growth and social development, so they say. But what if education-said to be the solution to many of our country's problems, key to a better life becomes unbelievably expensive and inaccessible to all? Sadly however, our country still holds the record where education consistently falters every year. We see signals of strains as our educational system continues to be overburdened by the increasing enrolment as government finances fall short of funding needed improvements and as the quality of instructions have gradually deteriorated over time.

For Innove Communications, improving the quality of mass education has become an economic imperative- providing hope for the youth to prepare them to be globally competitive and help uplift the quality of lives of communities by not only giving "a man a fish" or simply teaching him "how to fish" but about whether he has a "market for his catch."

Innove CEO Gil B. Genio emphasizes the role of IT in education by calling for a broadband revolution that can transform the Filipino educational system and allow the country to catch up with global competition. "It is a revolution we support and hope to see happening soon," he states. "I believe that the Internet is a great equalizer. It will give access to knowledge for all," he added.

As its name connotes, Innove (a Mexican-Spanish term which means to innovate) took the pivotal role of paving the rough roads between the "haves" and the "not haves." It continues to innovate until barriers to reaching out and connecting to practically anyone becomes possible. Barely two years old, Innove has already done remarkable strides in corporate responsibility programs giving emphases to three major thrusts: educational technology, that ensures the youth to acquire employable skills indispensable for employment; sustainability programs for community empowerment; and employee volunteerism by encouraging them to participate in social building by sharing knowledge through training programs.

Inching along but with perseverance to complete its vision of transforming the Philippines into an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) hub of the ASEAN, Innove embraces the Herculean task, a crucial role indeed. But with the best people, best team, and best practices, Innove will realize its vision in no time. Under the program GILAS (Gearing-up Internet Literacy & Access to Students), Innove partnered with various organizations to connect and install 10 PCs (includes free IP address/ web site) to 5,543 schools within 5 years time. As a major contributor of this project, Innove committed to link a big chunk of the target. By year-end,

Innove will fully "digitize" about 388 schools in strategic areas giving students limitless access to information and knowledge as well as provide the solution for tuition-strapped students to complete a college degree via the On-line Schooling. Among Innove's noteworthy contribution in youth and education includes the promotion of computer literacy in public high schools nationwide; contribution to the Innove-Globe-DepEd Coalition for Better Education by hosting the ICT development in youth tech schools in Cebu and Negros Oriental provinces; support to the First National Congress on Information Communications technology in basic Education at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City; synergized government-academe and industry linkages as it established links with them through provincial telecom centers nationwide; construction of e-Centers in Cebu Normal University, Makaturing Community, etc…,giving them a taste of the "generation y" learning experience. These are but tip of the iceberg for Innove as it fuses together its resources, commitments and dedication to try and collectively become a great force for productive change.

Unlocking its local resources, the company participated in the call of the nation to alleviate poverty and uplift the living condition of the less privileged by providing not only high-technology solutions and services but has taken heart by immersing itself in programs and projects meant to improve people's lives-down to the community level. An off-shoot of the Internet connectivity is the training of teachers where crash courses are offered to professionals or would-be teachers of public elementary and high schools, a company philosophy of sustaining growth by investing in its people. These livelihood and entrepreneurship trainings which brings needed technical and managerial skills into the community, provides an alternative to agriculture, thus discouraging urban migration. Looking forward, Innove Communications promises to aggressively pursue deployment for Internet access to meet every public highschools' reliance on connectivity. Other than GILAS, Innove will continue partnering with opt organizations and local government in giving technology an edge in education in the country.