As Davao Chamber trustee Andre Fournier has pointed out, the Techno Kapehan has become a mainstay in Davao’s ICT arena. Initiated by the DCCCII, the Techno Kapehan is a once-a-month informal gathering of the city’s industry associations, businessmen, government officials and the media. This month’s session (23 May 2007) was hosted by NCCC Mall.

The main topic during the 5th Kapehan was the Mindanao ICT Congress, which is now definitely scheduled from 23 to 27 October 2007. The Davao Chamber explained that the reason for the delay in the announcement of the event’s particulars was the negotiations with the BIMP-Eaga, whose leadership had apparently expressed an intent to take part in the MICT Congress, but could not firmly commit to a November schedule, hence the need for further negotiations.

Finally, it was decided that the MICT Congress would coincide with the BIMP-Eaga SOMM here in October. It was also decided that the 1st BIMP-Eaga ICT Conference be established and conducted during the Congress.

Also in time with the MICT Congress is the 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit. This is the brainchild of Councilor Pete Laviña, and will be organized by the same people who put together the Davao Bloggers Party last 17 March. The upcoming summit will focus on the business aspect of blogging, community-building, as well as technical topics. (More details on this event in the very near future.)

Yet another I.T. event, but happening earlier, is the Mindanao FOSS and C.C. Conference. This will be held from 27 to 29 September 2007, and is being organized by DabaweGNU, the FOSS advocacy group in Davao. The conference, according to Nathaniel Jayme, is going to feature trends in intellectual property (IP) practices in the music industry.

The MICT Congress and the BIMP-Eaga ICT Confab aims to explore the possibilities of synergizing the ICT initiatives of the Eaga member nations. At present, ICT is not a top priority industry of this 4-member regional aggrupation. Still, it does identify ICT as one of its preferred areas of development. Since its inception in the early 90s, however, no significant advances have been accomplished within the BIMP-Eaga in terms of ICT. In fact, the committee on ICT of the Eaga is reportedly dormant.

Holding the 1st BIMP-Eaga ICT Confab during the MICT Congress hopes to amend this. It would also be a good opportunity for Mindanao ICT players to get to know their counterparts in Sabah, North Sulawesi, Brunei, and other areas covered by the Eaga.

The working theme of the 6th congress is “Borderless ICT Collaboration on human resources, infrastructure and technology innovation.” This coincides with the Eaga SOMM’s discussion points: developing ICT infrastructure; strategic business development via e-commerce; human capital development; and e-governance. The Congress will be held at the NCCC Mall convention center, where there will be a trade expo, seminars and plenary sessions. In order to drum up participation, the organizers plan to conduct a nationwide roadshow. Planned missions to Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia are also on the drawing board.

Just as agreements and treaties on agriculture and other industries among Eaga member-nations have been successfully established, hopefully the same will happen for the ICT industries of the East ASEAN countries.