Deadline for Digital Cities Awards; Naga to host NICP summit

By Jason B. Neola NAGA CITY --- Entries for the Digital Cities PH Awards, a rebrand of eGov Awards, which was launched in 2012 by the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP) in partnership with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DICT) and the Cyber City Teleservices Philippines, Inc., will be accepted until tomorrow, August 17, this year. The awarding ceremony will be held in Metro Manila on October 12, 2018. The Awards, which is composed of 6 categories, was introduced to recognize LGUs with exemplary performance in empowering their constituents and business stakeholders by integrating Information Communication Technology (ICT) capabilities and solutions in their respective governance strategies. The rebranding of eGov Awards to Digital Cities Philippines Awards for Best Practices in eGovernance was launched jointly by NICP and DICT in 2017 to create smart or digital cities, especially in the areas of economic development, governance, lifestyle, talent development, mobility, and environment. The Digital Cities Awards also aims to strengthen strategies that will enhance the system on transparency and accountability aside from reinforcing the platforms that will improve the business environment, attract investors’ confidence and obtain stakeholders’ participation in coming up with more sustainable programs to achieve inclusive growth. The 6 categories are: 1. The Best in eGov Customer Empowerment (g2c) Award 2. The Best in eGov Business Empowerment (g2b) Award 3. The Best in eGov Gov’t Inter-Operability (g2g) Award 4. The Best in eGov Digital Finance (g2p) Award 5. The Best in eGov Data-Driven Governance Award (d2g), and; 6. The Best in eGov Systems for Global Competitiveness (g2w) Award. An NICP project briefer shows that the objectives of the Awards are to highlight and encourage the effective and efficient delivery of services and performance of duties and responsibilities by LGUs through the utilization of information and communications technology, and to share and replicate innovative practices, and commend the LGUs in integrating ICT in their governance processes to serve as example and benchmarks to other local government units. The program also seeks to improve the business development, social services and the general ecosystem of the LGUs, and motivate the private sector to actively participate or invest in the growth of the LGUs aside from promoting citizen’s responsibility and participation as well as accountability, efficiency and transparency in governance responsibility and encourage innovation. Naga to play host Meanwhile, the NICP has invited President Duterte to be the keynote speaker in its 10th NICP National Summit which is going to be hosted by the City Government of Naga on November 23-24, this year. As of press time, the city mayor’s office does not have yet any available statement on the ‘hosting’ task, but a source said that a press briefing on the matter will be held next week. The event, which began in 2008, will also mark this year’s anniversary celebration of the country’s ICT Confederation. It is expected to gather at least 800 stakeholders from LGUs, the academe and various industries supporting the administration’s socio-economic development efforts. In a letter to President Duterte, Dr. Antonio Del Carmen, NICP president, and Efren Daniel De Leon, 2018 NICP Summit chair, detailed the main components of this year’s summit, which include: 1. Conference on digital research and innovation policies which is inclusive of discussions involving the IT-BPM industry 2. Talent development, the innovation ecosystem and disruptive technologies in the field of ICT 3.) exhibition of innovation projects in the field of ICT 3. Exhibition of innovation projects in the field of ICT 4. Series of networking and fellowship activities, and; 5. Innovation and start-up area to showcase the different innovative collaboration of the industrial, academe and the government sectors.