DECEMBER 11, 2020 / https://www.rappler.com/brandrap/finance-and-industries/highlights-philippine-startup-week-november-2020/
Scaling opportunities to accelerate economic growth
Day Three of PHSW20 opened with DTI’s SLINGSHOT – an annual international conference gathering stakeholders of the country’s startup ecosystem to discuss scaling opportunities and globalizing startups.
A highlight of SLINGSHOT was the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between DTI and 500 Startups, a global venture capital and startup accelerator based in Silicon Valley, to work together as DTI prepares to implement the Strategic MSMLE and Startup (or SMART) Link Program.
The SLINGSHOT conference proper began with presentations from Startup Genome’s Patricia Russ and Undersecretary Rafaelita Aldaba.
Ms. Russ emphasized the importance for policy-makers to focus on the right action and support at the right time, for ecosystem leaders to let the entrepreneurial core lead the startup community, and for startup founders to think big and go global.
Usec. Aldaba talked about the state of the Philippine startup ecosystem amid the pandemic and highlighted the rise in the Philippine ranking to 50th in the Global Innovation Index 2020, which placed the country for the first time among the top 50 innovation ecosystems in the world.
The event also featured panel discussions on fostering collaboration across borders with various local and international startup enablers, including Minette Navarrete of Kickstart Ventures, Thomas Jeng of 500 Startups, Jojo Flores of Plug and Play, Darren Lee of Enterprise Singapore, and Zhang Li of Taipei Computer Association.
Another panel featured Filipino startups Pearlpay, Cawil Al, Vaquform, 1Export, and Hustleshare PH, who shared their experience in forging international connections that contributed to their growth.