THE innovation laboratory (Innolab) of the enterprise business of PLDT, Inc. has signed a partnership agreement with artificial intelligence platform provider Senti AI to “co-create” relevant solutions for businesses in the country.
In a statement e-mailed to reporters on Tuesday, PLDT said it was hoping that the partnership would empower Philippine start-ups.
Under this partnership, PLDT Enterprise and Senti AI aim to “co-create” more relevant solutions to meet the evolving demands of today’s businesses, PLDT said.
They will also help their start-up partners “achieve greater scale and go global,” it added.
Founded in 2015, Senti AI first offered a social listening dashboard called “Pulse.”
“Pulse” has allowed users to monitor conversations in various local languages, helping them to gain richer and deeper market insights, PLDT said.
“Given PLDT Innolab’s business development thrust, Senti AI has been able to successfully fortify the said solution and bring it to more customers—even catering to some of the country’s biggest brands and conglomerates. Today, Senti AI also offers Volant, its forms processing automation tool; and Natter, a localized Chat Assistant API,” it said further.
PLDT also noted that the Innovative Start-up Act that President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed on April 26 last year supports Innolab and Senti AI’s initiative.
“With the government’s optimism for the dynamic industry, more investors have begun eyeing local start-ups. Such response couldn’t come at a better time as the Philippines is expecting 6.6% economic growth for 2020,” it said.
The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the Innovative Start-up Act or Republic Act No. 11337 (RA 11337) was signed in November.
The new law qualifies for incentives “any person or registered entity in the Philippines which aims to develop an innovative product, process, or business model.”
Under RA 11337, the programs, benefits, and incentives include full or partial subsidies for business registration, application, and permit processing costs; endorsement of the host agency for the expedited or prioritized processing of applications with other government agencies; full or partial subsidy for the use of facilities, office space, equipment, and services provided by government or private institutions; full or partial subsidy in the use of repurposed government space and facilities of the host agency as the registered business address; and grants-in-aid for research, development, training, and expansion projects. — Arjay L. Balinbin
