| Info | Details |
|---|---|
| What | Philippine Startup Week 2022 |
| When | November 14-18, 2022 from 9am - 9pm |
| Where | Hybrid |
| By Whom | DTI QBO |
| Ticket | Free |
This year’s theme is “Homegrown Heroes: Cultivating Future Tech Giants”.
Unlike pre-Covid startup weeks, this year’s was mostly online, with the main event being held remotely. There are many smaller offline side events. However, they coincide with the Philippine Web3 Festival which is far more interesting.
The online nature really discouraged attendance, while the scattered side events made them confusing, especially since the Web3 Festival was also being held at the same time.
The worst part was that this year’s event embraced Web3, which is really used for gambling on tokens, whether on Ethereum, Solana, Tezos, etc.
Does it mean that QBO wants real startups to degrade into gambling apps by launching their own scam tokens?
Or do they want to startups to emulate Axie Infinity and waste the lives of young people with the play-to-earn model?
Or do they prefer fly-by-night companies which are supposed to last only a short time – take the money and leave?
In a talk in Devcon Summit 2022, Vice Catudio lamented that the Philippines has very few startup investments. It’s strange that he does not put any blame on QBO and the DTI.
In other countries, the startup ecosystem is managed by their Ministry of Science and not by the Ministry of Trade. Examples are those of Vietnam and Malaysia.
Even Silicon Valley sprung from Stanford University, and not from any Chamber of Commerce.
Let’s count how many years it takes before QBO and DTI realize they startups should not be handled by them, but by the DOST or even the DICT. It will be a long count!
The post-Covid fail pattern seems to be consistent, and so we advise startups not to waste their time on next year’s Philippine Startup Week. Students, on the other hand, can learn a thing or two from it, just as they can learn about coding and pitching on Youtube.
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