A new hub for small entrepreneurs to learn AI
Philippine micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) braving the artificial intelligence (AI) age may have found a new place to get up to speed, through a public-private partnership meant to help small businesses harness the technology to scale up.
Inside the Filinvest Building of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Makati is a newly-inaugurated 380-square-meter space dedicated to keeping MSMEs abreast of the latest innovations in AI, and showing them how these technologies could be put to work in growing their businesses.
Built through a partnership between the DTI and Converge ICT Solutions Inc., the AI and Scale-Up Center is equipped with collaborative spaces, specialized meeting rooms and accelerator pods where MSME owners can receive free training on AI tools. Here, startups can also test their own AI-powered products.
It is the first facility of its kind in the Philippines, according to the DTI.
“This AI and Scale-Up Center provides a realistic, accessible entry point for Filipino businesses to explore and adopt modern technology like AI,” Trade Secretary Cristina Roque says. “Scaling a business requires usable tools and expert guidance so that innovative ideas can turn into functional solutions.”
At the center, MSMEs can tap an ecosystem of cloud-based tools, cybersecurity support and productivity platforms that could help them run and grow their businesses.
AI-related workshops, learning sessions and hands-on activities will also be held at the site.
The initiative also taps the AI capabilities of Converge, the fiber broadband provider founded by tycoon Dennis Anthony Uy that has been positioning itself beyond telecommunications and as what it calls a “techco.”
For Uy, putting up a physical hub is one way of laying the groundwork for wider AI adoption among Philippine businesses.
“AI cannot thrive without the right foundation. You cannot have AI without the infrastructure in place,” he says. “Through this center, we are establishing the infrastructure for AI readiness.”
The facility stems from a memorandum of understanding signed by the DTI and Converge last November to broaden MSMEs’ access to AI.
MSMEs make up 99.95 percent of total businesses in the country and employ more than 60 percent of the workforce.
Yet a 2020 study by the DTI’s E-Commerce Bureau found that only 10 percent of MSMEs were using advanced digital tools for processes such as automation and analytics.
For now, expanding that number begins with a single hub in Makati. But when the partnership was announced last year, the center was pitched as a pilot that could eventually be replicated in other regions.
