By Mark Louis F. Ferrolino, Special Features Writer
AS THE first business newspaper in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia, BusinessWorld has successfully positioned itself as the benchmark of quality economic journalism with high regard to integrity and excellence. It has been recognized as the most respected and most read business daily, delivering in-depth news stories, critical commentaries, interesting features, and special reports.
With today’s fast-changing times and landscape, BusinessWorld goes beyond traditional economic and business reporting. It began staging valuable events that serve as a great platform for industry and government leaders to converse on pertinent issues and challenges affecting the country. The now 32-year-old newspaper company has proven that it can also be a reliable partner of both the public and private sectors in shaping radical solutions and innovative ways that contribute to the growth of the Philippine economy.
Just recently, the country’s leading business daily once staged its award-winning BusinessWorld Economic Forum with the theme “The Future of Business: Next-wave Disruptions & Opportunities.” The whole-day forum brought together thought leaders, industry experts, business executives, government policymakers, innovators, academicians, technology providers and other leading figures in the society who shared their insights on the promises and risks of technology and how they could impact businesses over the next 10 years.
The recently held BusinessWorld Economic Forum gathered more than 700 high-level attendees from different sectors in the country. Just like in the previous years, the event served as a venue for the attendees to network with other top executives, build a good business relationship and discuss vital issues.
In addition to the annual BusinessWorld Economic Forum, BusinessWorld has also been organizing timely events in the past years that garnered positive remarks from the attendees. These include the BusinessWorld Stock Market Roundtable and the BusinessWorld Cybersecurity Forum. BusinessWorld, indeed, raised the bar in organizing local business events.
This Sept. 9, BusinessWorld is once again making history with the first-of-its-kind BusinessWorld Industry 4.0 Summit, which will be held at Shangri-La at The Fort, Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City.
The Industry 4.0 Summit will be presented by BusinessWorld, in partnership with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Philippine Chamber of Telecommunications Operators (PCTO). With the theme “Winning Together in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” it will gather the best minds from the public and private sectors to discuss how the Philippines and businesses can prepare and collaborate well to thrive and win in the impending Fourth Industrial Revolution, also known as Industry 4.0.
According to Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, the Industry 4.0 will be driven largely by the convergence of digital, biological and physical innovations, which will unfold over the 21st century. Just like the three industrial revolutions that preceded it, Industry 4.0 is envisioned to significantly change how we live, work and play with the fusion of advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), quantum computing, and other technologies.
The upcoming BusinessWorld Industry 4.0 Summit will focus on the said things, which will serve as an eye opener to where the businesses are heading, said BusinessWorld Executive Vice-President Lucien C. Dy Tioco.
“Industry 4.0 Summit will educate the audience what these technologies are and what impact they could do to your business. On the other side, it is showing the effect of these technologies in different industries: How it’s going to change the telco industry? How smart homes and smart cities will thrive and how they will change our lifestyle? There are several opportunities abound with these new technologies for the different industries,” Mr. Dy Tioco said.
For PCTO Chairman Enrico L. Delos Reyes, it is important for businesses to understand what Industry 4.0 is all about, together with the emerging technologies associated with it, for them to adjust and evolve in the future.
“If you’re in a business, you have to understand where the things are going and what are the things needed. So, you will have expectation and anticipation,” Mr. Delos Reyes said. “If you know the direction and the vision involved in this revolution, you can prepare yourself better and customize the evolution in your business.”
The BusinessWorld Industry 4.0 Summit will be a whole-day conference packed with various topics that will deal on aligning the country’s national ICT development agenda to IR 4.0; understanding the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its effects on economy, business and governments; preparing the country for the Fourth Industrial Revolution; and strong leadership and right legislations amid IR 4.0.
The summit will consist meaningful panel discussions, to be moderated by BusinessWorld editors. The first discussion on “The Valuable Player: Telco Industry’s Key Role in the IR 4.0 Game” will delve into how can telecommunication companies adapt to the changes the Industry 4.0 will bring. The second panel discussion — “Transformation Allies: How Government and the Public Sector can Maximize the Developments brought by IR 4.0” — will discuss how can emerging technologies transform the public sector. The third discussion, “The Era of Progress: Identifying Opportunities in Philippine Commerce during IR 4.0,” will tackle the opportunities await in the commerce of the future and how can the country harness them.
Meanwhile, the discussion on “Investing for the Future: How IR 4.0 will Shape the Banking and Finance Sector” will discuss the role of traditional banks in a world of digital currencies, decentralized and cashless transactions. The fifth discussion, “Connecting the Links: How the Real Estate, Transport and Manufacturing Industries Can Collaborate to Prepare for IR 4.0,” will tackle how can these industries further improve with the help of technology. The last discussion — “A Smart and Friendly Tomorrow: A Look at Smart Cities and Tourism in the IR 4.0” — will focus on how the way of life will change.
Mr. Dy Tioco hopes that the Industry 4.0 Summit will be instrumental to gain the attention of the government in crafting policies that will enable emerging technologies to come in. “It’s critical because it’s making our country competitive to other countries who have already started looking at these technologies,” Mr. Dy Tioco said.
