Various companies chaired by business leader Manuel V. Pangilinan provided PLDT Inc. (PLDT) and Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) connectivity and communications support to ensure seamless operations during the government’s pilot Bayanihan, Bakunahan National Vaccination Days (NVD). The massive inoculation drive of the National Task Force against COVID-19 (NTF) and National Vaccines Operation Center (NVOC) from November 29 to December 1, 2021 also coincided with the MVP Group’s pilot COVID-19 booster vaccination for qualified non-medical employees and their dependents.

MVP Group’s donations for the NVD were facilitated on behalf of Taskforce T3 (Test, Trace, Treat) by the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation, where Pangilinan sits as co-chair. “Seeing several communities easing back to normalcy is largely attributable to the success of vaccination efforts. We are committed to continuously work together for safe and equitable vaccinations,” Pangilinan said.

Php 1.5 million worth of electronic load from Smart was jointly funded by PLDT-Smart Foundation, Metro Pacific Investments Corp., and One Meralco Foundation for the NVD, which targeted 34,000 encoders around 11,000 vaccination sites nationwide.

Furthermore, PLDT and Smart boosted network coverage in key NVD vaccination sites to help prevent delays in data transmission.

To culminate the NVD, the MVP Group Vaccine Force also kicked off COVID-19 booster vaccinations for qualified employees and dependents on December 1 at the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Manila. This followed recent booster inoculation of Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. frontliners, who were among the first to receive COVID-19 vaccines at the first quarter of 2021, as well as pediatric vaccinations for 12 to 17 year-old dependents of MVP Group’s over 66,000-strong workforce.

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More groupwide sites will administer company-procured Moderna booster vaccines under the MVP Group’s #WeGotYourVac COVID-19 nationwide immunization program until the end of the year, leading to more booster vaccinations within the first quarter of 2022. Selected dates are targeted to coincide with Phase 2 of the government’s NVD slated on December 15 to 17, 2021.

NTF and NVOC targeted to inoculate 9 million people for its pilot NVD run. The next three-day inoculation drive aims to achieve the goal of completely inoculating 54 million Filipinos by yearend.

“I believe the rollout of safe and effective vaccines has been vital to getting to where we are now, ready to hopefully celebrate a much happier Christmas season with family, friends, and colleagues,” Pangilinan said.

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Germany-based medical technology firm Siemens Healthineers has introduced the world’s first CT scanner with photon-counting technology, promising to provide higher quality medical imaging impossible with conventional CT scanners.

The ‘Naeotom Alpha’ was designed to excel in all technical parameters related to image quality, touting an increase in resolution and a reduction in radiation dose. As of present, the Naeotom Alpha has already been cleared for clinical use in the USA and Europe, with more than 20 systems installed, and over 8.000 patients scanned.

“CT exams are widely accepted in a clinical setting, and over 300 million exams performed globally per year. Why is that? CT is known to be fast, it is accurate, and it provides to-the-point decision-making support for radiologists and their referrals. This is the basis we build on, and we move on from that basis because we see that innovation into CT imaging will see further clinical use,” Philipp Fischer, Head of Computed Tomography at Siemens Healthineers, said in a press conference.

“We see that for three different reasons: the access to CT imaging is always increasing in many countries around the globe; we see that the prevalence of diseases in which CT imaging plays a crucial role in treating is also increasing over time; and the clinical relevance of CT imaging is getting higher and higher.”

Mr. Fischer explained that CT imaging is becoming more popular as a first-line diagnostic tool for major diseases like coronary artery disease, as well as playing larger roles in different methods of therapy and even in areas like preventive care and early detection.

Yet, despite its growing relevance, conventional CT imaging has reached technical limitations, namely that resolution can only be improved by small margins and dose cannot be reduced significantly. This is where photon-counting technology can enable drastic improvements.

These improvements, according to Siemens Healthineers, include an increase in resolution and a reduction in radiation dose by up to 45% for ultra-high resolution (UHR) scans compared with conventional CT detectors with a UHR comb filer. Photon-counting scans also contain more useable data, due to the fact that photon-counting technology directly detects each X-ray photon and its energy level instead of first converting it into visible light as with conventional CT imaging.

These aspects combined open up new capabilities, such as scanning a patient’s lung at a high scan speed and getting high-resolution images with inherent spectral information– without the patient having to hold their breath. This spectral information also helps to identify materials inside the body that can even be removed from the image should they obstruct an area of interest. This helps physicians to assess issues quickly and offers the possibility to start treatment early.

Through the reduction in radiation dose, regular examinations, such as lung cancer screenings using CT imaging can become routinely available for larger patient populations. And the high resolution reveals even small structures, taking clinical decision-making to a new level of confidence. The technical complexity of photon-counting CT imaging does not mean increased complexity for the user, thanks to myExam Companion from Siemens Healthineers.

“More than 15 years ago, work on photon-counting CT and this clinical vision started at Siemens Healthineers. We always believed in the tremendous clinical value and relentlessly worked on it together with our partners,” Mr. Fischer said.

“Today, with the introduction of Naeotom Alpha, we are taking a huge step in furthering patient care in a wide range of clinical domains by effectively showing things impossible to see with conventional CT scans. This required a radical rethinking of practically every technological aspect of computed tomography.”

Profound impact in many clinical fields

The clinical fields of cardiac imaging, oncology, and pulmonology all have their own unique demands of medical images. In cardiac imaging, it is capturing the heart while moving, which therefore requires speed.

Naeotom Alpha delivers speed through its Dual Source design and benefits from spectral information and high resolution for removing obstructions caused by calcifications. This enables diagnostic assessment and allows more patients to benefit from CT imaging –even those with a high calcium burden.

The high precision offered by Naeotom Alpha is also highly beneficial in oncology, where reliable and consistent evaluation of disease progress is the most important factor. Therefore, clinical images need to be as conclusive and consistent as possible to make the right decisions.

In pulmonology, images need to contain all meaningful answers in as few scans as possible to avoid delays in treatment and potentially severe consequences for patients. These needs are met and often exceeded by Naeotom Alpha’s features. Its clinical images inherently carry more information than ever possible before for precise diagnosis, follow-up, and treatment.

In over 15 years of research into photon-counting CT imaging, Siemens Healthineers has filed over 500 patents related to this technology and collaborated closely with clinical partners to test and validate the clinical capabilities and use cases. Six prototypes have been evaluated and improved on over the years. In 2021, the company presents the world’s first CT scanner with the new technology, released for clinical use.

More than 20 systems have already been installed and are used in clinical routine. So far, over 8000 patients have been scanned. With a rotation speed of 250 milliseconds and two X-ray tubes and detectors (Dual Source), Naeotom Alpha is not only the first photon-counting CT system on the market, but is also a very powerful, fast, and precise CT scanner.

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Tata Consultancy Services, BusinessWorld Insights kickstart series on Mapping Out Successful Digital Journeys with discussion on innovation culture

Transforming the organization from the traditional business-as-usual setup to a digitally-enabled one can be accelerated further with a culture that embraces innovation.

A company practicing a culture of innovation supports a creative or unorthodox way of thinking among its people. And given the pressing need for digital transformation among organizations nowadays, an innovation culture can be valuable to develop in venturing into the digital journey.

But how can an organization start cultivating a culture of innovation? BusinessWorld Insights and Tata Consultancy Services held a discussion themed “Creating a Culture of Innovation Towards an Effective Digital Journey” on Nov. 18, gathering experts to share practices necessary in innovation culture.

From the government’s part, among its initiatives in fostering a culture of innovation are the Regional Inclusive Innovation Centers (RIIC) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The RIICs are almost like a ‘frontline project’ of the agency, according to Napoleon Juanillo Jr., assistant secretary for Competitiveness and Innovation at DTI.

“These are virtual or physical platforms for collaborative programs purposely to generate products, processes, or service innovations that are deemed important to the goal of inclusive growth and development of their respective regions,” Mr. Juanillo explained about RIICs.

“There is no one-size-fits-all for regional digitalization or competitiveness. We have to allow each region to craft its own innovation charisma as it were,” he added.

Moreover, the inclusiveness in the project also means that it provides everyone a chance, especially the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), to access shared facilities, expertise, and resources for their improvement and growth as well as form partnerships with different stakeholders in the regions.

“I think that [our RIICs are] a primary bedrock we need for cultivating an innovation culture among Filipinos and to see innovation as something that can be salient to all the things that we see around us,” Mr. Juanillo said.

But while government initiatives, like the RIICs, are aggressive in developing a culture of innovation in the Philippines, Mr. Juanillo said that the government is also hobbled by internal barriers and bureaucratic roadblocks that somewhat delay the innovation journey.

“So, in a sense, we’re heavily dependent on the private sector in assisting and working with the government in instilling this culture,” he said. “The private sector is actually at the forefront of bringing this culture to the Philippines.”

For Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI) chief information officer Winnie Talosig-Rebancos, leaders have a crucial part to take in fostering an innovation culture in an organization.

“Culture of innovation can only become part of a company’s DNA if it starts from the leadership,” Ms. Rebancos said. “In CCBPI, we encourage everyone to innovate, to improve ways of working.”

To push for this matter, CCBPI’s first cultural move was when its CEO renamed its head office as a support center. “It changed the impression that ideas are always centralized from the head office if we move that notion,” she said. As such, people have become more empowered to generate ideas and propose improvements.

In addition, their organization believes in progress over perfection. “There is no small idea to begin with, as long as it generates results. So whether it’s huge or not, we start with step one, and then we continuously improve,” she said.

“Every company’s senior leadership team plays a huge role in creating a culture of innovation,” Ms. Rebancos stressed. “We need to learn that people grow the business. And our main responsibility as leaders is to provide opportunities where they can [invest in] themselves.”

An organization also has to set a stage where innovation can prosper, said Jesus Romero, chief operating officer of Converge ICT Solutions, Inc.

For Mr. Romero, people need to sense that innovation is encouraged in the organization. They have to be assured that they would not be punished for making mistakes, and there are ways to help transform ideas into reality.

“There are a lot of smart people out there. But maybe they don’t really know how to turn their ideas into real beneficial innovations. So there must be an enabling function — experts who would guide, coach, and motivate everyone in the organization,” he said.

He also believed that if one does not fail, one is not trying new undertakings. “But please fail originally,” he reminded. “I will tolerate that sometimes you make a mistake, but please don’t make the [same] mistake over and over again.”

Meanwhile, for Shiju Varghese, country head of Tata Consultancy Services Philippines, Inc., the first step in forming a culture of innovation is embracing digital.

“For those companies that aim to make the shift from the traditional way of functioning to digitally-enabled processes essentially means going digital is often the first step in creating an innovation culture,” he said.

Also among the initial steps are building innovation labs and rewarding the people for bringing in such a culture.

Organizations have to articulate an innovation strategy as well. “An innovation strategy must address how innovation will create value for potential customers, how the company will capture a share of that value, and what type of innovations to pursue,” Mr. Varghese cited.

“A company’s unique competitiveness should dictate the innovation portfolio for itself and not replicate what others are doing,” he added.

“No organization can exist without innovation now,” Mr. Varghese remarked. “Today, every company is a technology company. Companies either create technology or are users of technology. Innovation culture prepares an organization to embrace the digital journey.”

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Having experienced the effects of the COVID-19 crisis, organizations may be looking for innovations that can support their rebound and growth.

IGNITE PH, with a focus on “Corporate Innovation Towards Recovery and Growth” this year, once again spotlighted startups and their innovations on the IGNITE 2021 CYBER WILDFIRE Pitch Event held on Nov. 16 to 19. The country’s largest international innovation conference sought to promote collaboration by providing global opportunities for startups.

Startups from the Philippines, Singapore, Japan, and Korea participated in the four-day pitch event, which covered five different themes including Social Good, Digital Transformation, Health and Wellness, K-Startups, and Travel Tech.

IGNITE 2021 CYBER partnered with Shell LiveWIRE, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), ROHTO Pharmaceutical, Y&Archer, and Korea Tourism Organization (KTO).

Kicking off the first day of IGNITE’s WILDFIRE Pitch Event with Shell LiveWIRE were startups Panublix, Agro-DigitalPH, and Sachi Group. Among these startups, Agro-DigitalPH won this year’s Shell LiveWIRE Final Pitch Day. A startup seeking to empower farmers and fishers, Agro-DigitalPH has developed several cloud-based applications that cover the digital food value chain.

“We are advocates of change and are committed to uplift the lives of food producers through education and establishing a food system that puts a premium on trust and transparency,” said Henry James Sison, Agro-DigtalPH’s CEO.

The startup hoped to work with Shell Foundation in digitizing its farming and fishing communities, which can expand its market opportunities.

Six community enterprises for this year’s Shell LiveWIRE Acceleration Program were also featured on IGNITE. These included Coron Natural Farms, Kure, Seeds & Scales Vegetables Farms, RMC Oil and Eco Solutions, San Isidro Multi-purpose Cooperative, and Solchi Solutions.

Shell LiveWIRE is the global flagship enterprise development program of Shell. The program is now in its second year in the Philippines and has drawn over 500 local startups, social and community enterprises.

“On behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry, we recognize the untiring efforts of Shell in promoting entrepreneurship, mentorship, innovation, and employment to strengthen local economies through Shell LiveWIRE,” expressed Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon M. Lopez in his keynote talk.

“On our end, we want to assure you of DTI’s continued support and facilitation of the industry’s concerns,” he added.

Digital transformation, innovation from Japan

The second day of IGNITE, supported by JETRO, focused on Digital Transformation and featured ten startups from Japan. JETRO is on the mission to create innovation through direct investment in Japan and support Japanese startups to expand overseas.

The startups that presented were RevComm, Inc., Asilla, Inc., Global Mobility Service, Axelspace Corp., Trustdock, Inc., Net Smile, Aidemy, Inc., Kotozna, Inc., Tenchijin, Inc., and Sagrih.

“This pitching session is designed for Japanese startups to expand their presence in the Philippines and the ASEAN market,” said Kazuo Nakamura, executive director of JETRO Manila, in his closing remarks. “Through business interaction and collaboration between Japanese startups and ASEAN companies, I believe it will lead a new business, acceleration of the digital transformation, and further technological innovation in this region.”

The day initially began with a keynote about internal collaboration for digital transformation by Richard B. Dasher, Ph.D., director of the US-Asia Technology Management Center at Stanford University.

“It’s best to look globally for partners in digital transformation. There is an intrinsically global aspect of cloud computing and all these new digital tools. They have no natural geographic borders. So, you should aim for a world-class technology core and be prepared to make that interface with localized components,” Mr. Dasher said.

He also considered that startups typically bring newer things than one can get from partnering with large, established firms. “You get more learning through a partnership with a startup company that sees a more emerging view of the world than you would just by relying on a big system integrator or provider,” he said.

IGNITE’s Day Two with JETRO also held a panel discussion moderated by Manny Ayala, managing director at Endeavor Philippines. The panel consisted of Nick Broomfield, global client director for Transformation Consulting at dentsu international; Ee Ling Lim, head of APAC Business Development at 500 Startups; Xavier Marzan, managing director/CEO of F(DEV), who shared how their organizations look at digital transformation and innovation.

Supporting health & wellness, Korean startups

The third day of IGNITE featured Health and Wealthness startups on the first part with ROHTO, then K-Startups with Y&Archer on the second part.

ROHTO’s core business deals with pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and other health products.

In her introduction of ROHTO’s vision, researcher Florence said, “We believe that there are some unanswered needs yet to be explored in ASEAN countries, especially in the area of healthcare, food, and wellness. So one of the things that ROHTO can do is to support local startups that currently address those issues, and that’s why we’re here in IGNITE today.”

Three startups pitched on the event, namely Pascific, MedHyve, and reach52. Winning the competition was Pascific, which aims to improve access to precision healthcare in the Asia-Pacific, bagging the $5,000 equity-free funding and a chance to work with ROHTO.

“For ROHTO, we promise added revenue streams from Pascific initiatives, added R&D excellence for existing and new IP/product development, and added channels for the promotion of current and future ROHTO products,” Dr. Richie Soong, managing director of Pascific, shared in his pitch.

Y&Archer, a professional global business accelerator company from Korea, supported the second part of IGNITE’s Day Three. The K-Startups presented were ChangSeol Build System, Inc., Dr. K Healthcare, Mirae CIT, Inc., 2HAE Lifestyle, Onesoftdigm, ExoCoBio, Inc., The KEII Platform, and ERANGTEK.

More startups from Korea shined on the fourth and final day of this year’s IGNITE, supported by KTO. The startups for the day, which focused on Travel Tech, were Tripbtoz, Travolution, Vutler, KAFLIX, 3i, Inc., Glorang, Uniquegood Company, Dazayo, INFOIN, and WeAreFriends Co. Ltd.

In his opening message on the IGNITE 2021 CYBER’s final day, KTO’s Tourism Companies Support Department Executive Director Deoksoo Ahn said, “This event is a great opportunity for the startups to directly receive feedback and make connections with investors. We need you as much as you need us.”

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