The online platform links cities to potential ICT councils outside of Metro Manila. “It was, in fact, our intent to support different provinces and cities in redefining themselves as new digital hubs and provide everyone the opportunity to connect and make their locations more attractive to potential investors,” says Rey Untal, CEO and president of IBPAP, at the event attended by key industry stakeholders.
Present also were DICT Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr and Undersecretary Monchito Ibrahim, IBPAP Board Trustee Jonathan de Luzuriaga, and NICP president Tony del Carmen.
The creation of the portal is in line with the national government’s Next Wave Cities program, an initiative focused on the development of ICT-enabled hubs outside Metro Manila. The launch also marks the initiative’s official rebranding to DigitalCitiesPH.
This one-stop-portal is user-friendly, navigable, and aesthetically designed, allowing its future users to retrieve relevant, detailed information in no time. Every data is either one-search away, or can be accessed through an interactive map that leads to specific provinces and cities.
The portal will help outline 145 cities, 81 provinces, and 1500 municipalities in the country. Each profile will contain information on a location’s talent information, infrastructure capacity, cost of doing business, and digital readiness, a new criterion in gauging a specific location’s potential as a future growth driver.
The portal is built in partnership with ADEC Innovations, an impact investing company focused on designing, developing, and delivering portfolio of sustainable business solutions that aim at meeting the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) thrust of the world’s leading organizations.
The digitalcitiesPH portal is expected to be available publicly by the end of July.