Science, technology to save Phl economy

Manila, Philippines - There’s new hope against the problem of brain drain, or the migration of skilled workers and talent from our country, and it comes from the many Filipinos who have made their fortunes abroad and are eager to reconnect with their roots.

On June 14, the Philippine Development Foundation (PhilDev) assembles some of the brightest minds in government, industry and academe from both sides of the Pacific to discuss what they believe is the key to sustainable economic development for the Philippines: science and technology applied through entrepreneurship and innovation.

The forum, with theme “Innovation and Entrepreneurship for a Globally Competitive Philippines,” acknowledges the critical role of science and technology in economic and social development. It is headlined by Diosdado Banatao, a successful Filipino engineer and entrepreneur widely regarded as a Silicon Valley visionary for developing key semiconductor technologies that helped pave the way for computers to be used by consumers.

Banatao is chairman of PhilDev, and has been actively involved in the California-based nonprofit organization since its inception as Ayala Foundation USA in 2000. The organization has raised over $10 million and supported more than 200 projects in the Philippines in the past 11 years.

If he is passionate and optimistic about the enduring promise of progress in the Philippines through science and technology, it is because Banatao is proof of its potential.

Born to a simple farming family in what he describes as the “sleepy rural town” of Malabbac in Cagayan Valley, Banatao and his siblings were able to get a college education because his father left the country to work as an overseas contract worker and then reinvested his earnings back into their farm.

With a degree in electrical engineering from Mapua Institute of Technology and a brief stint as a pilot in Manila, the young Banatao found himself in the United States as an engineer for aircraft maker Boeing. He realized he needed more training and obtained a company scholarship to the University of Washington. Then it was off to Stanford University, where he obtained his master‘s degree in electrical engineering and which led him to build a career in California’s Silicon Valley. He had been working for about 10 years in various companies by the time he decided to start his first company in 1985 with capital raised mostly from friends.

Over the years, Banatao established a reputation as a successful “technopreneur” and, with a multimillion-dollar fortune built from his first businesses, as a venture capitalist providing much-needed funding and counsel to technology-based startups both in the US and in the Philippines.

Despite having found his fortune and made his home abroad, Banatao‘s heart remains with his fellow Filipinos. The Banatao Filipino American Fund assists Northern California high school students of Filipino heritage in pursuing a college education in engineering. He also supports his alma mater, Malabbac Elementary School, in Cagayan.

At PhilDev, Banatao shares his expertise in helping Filipinos forge a path to financial independence and progress.

“Investments must be made in higher education, especially in the sciences, and changes must be made in attitudes towards business – meaning, that a spirit of entrepreneurship needs to be instilled in Filipinos,” he declares. “For the Philippines to advance economically, the country must be capable of creating a lot of globally competitive technologies and products.”

Banatao believes that high growth and sustainable development can only be achieved by emphasizing more science and engineering education today. “The government must emphasize better education in math and sciences, and must engage in a lot of risk-taking or investments in technology.”

“There also needs to be an ecosystem for this to thrive,” says PhilDev president Victoria Garchitorena. “The thesis is sound – that all developed countries got to their status because of science and technology. We can create enterprises in that field right here, enterprises that can and will service a global market.”

The PhilDev Forum on June 14 seeks to catalyze public and private sector involvement towards achieving this goal not only by engaging Filipino, Filipino-American, and other distinguished experts in dialogue but also launching several initiatives that will propel their ideas into concrete, measurable actions. Speakers include government heads for education, science and technology, health, energy, and information and communications technology, among others; chief executives of local and multinational firms; representatives of Philippine and US-based industry and academic associations; as well as international experts: Taddy Hall of Innovation Without Borders and Walt Mayo of Endeavor Global.

The Manila forum comes on the heels of the California forum and gala that launched PhilDev late last year and attended by President Aquino.

The “brain gain” from what promises to be an insightful and enthusiastic movement is a timely and much needed boost for the country’s economic and social development. For Banatao and the Filipino and Filipino-American trustees, supporters, and volunteers of PhilDev, it’s simply a way of giving back to their homeland.