Technology for society

Ike Señeres .

1st part

MANY years ago, when I was still a career Foreign Service Officer (FSO), I headed the science and technology programs of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). Two of those programs were the Transfer of Knowledge thru Expatriate Nationals (Tokten) program and the Balik-Scientist Program, the latter being in cooperation with the Department of Science and Technology (Dost). There were similar programs that I also handled, such as the Science and Technology Advisory Council (Stac) and the Return of Knowledge and Technology (RKT), the latter being in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). As I recall, Stac was organized by former DFA Undersecretary Federico Macaranas to fill in the void for the Science Attaches from Dost who could no longer be deployed due to lack of funds, a problem that still exists even up to now.

Believe it or not, Undersecretary Macaranas game me instructions that sounded like Mission Impossible, but it was a mission that I took to my heart, and I would even say that up to now, I still consider as unfinished business all the projects that I left behind when I was promoted to become the Director General of the National Computer Center (NCC), the precursor of the newly established Department of Information and Communications Technology (Dict). Up to now, I still get embarrassed when Acting Dict Secretary Elisio Rio Jr. refers to me as one of the “grandfathers” of Dict. Well, that really makes me feel old, but there seems to be some truth to that sentimental notion. On that note however, we should really look for the other “grandfathers”, because as it is supposed to be, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is supposed to be the convergence of computers and telecoms.

The mission that Macaranas gave me was to look for major social problems that are present at the national level, and to find scientific solutions for these problems, by bringing back Filipino scientists and technologists who are experts in their chosen fields, but are residing abroad. One way or the other, one underlying purpose of the mission was to somehow reverse the so-called “brain drain”, by encouraging a backflow that could be considered as “brain gain”. It seems to me that this idea is still valid, but I also think that it could be modified so that it could also tap the expertise of Filipino scientists and technologists who are already back here, back home, somehow drawn by some kind of an informal “brain gain” program. Aside from that, we should tap the foreign scientists and technologists who are already residing here, having been “captured” by their Filipina wives who also have their own “brain gain” project of sorts.

In theory, it could be said that there is a scientific and technological solution to every national and social problem. I say that with the caveat that there should be no exemptions, adding to that the old saying that if there is a will, there is a way, interpreting that to mean no other than political will. In the old days before the days of modern technologies, it could be said that nothing moves, nothing happens if there is no political will behind any action. While that may still be true even up to now, it could already be said now and forever that with only a few parts of political will, a national and social problem could already be solved by mobilizing the social media, including of course the mobile apps. Whatever political will means in your dictionary, it may not mean so different from whatever goes viral online.

Although the correlation may not be always direct, it could always be said that a social networking site (SNS), a mobile messaging app (MMA) or even a short messaging service (SMS) program could always be used as platform to solve a social problem, whatever that problem is. For example, an e-commerce app might seem like a purely business concern, but it could be more than that, because what the developer really wants to do is to enable the cooperatives to sell to each other, and to sell to their own members. The same developer is now working on a ride sharing app that would again sound like a purely business concern, but is actually a conscious effort to help driver-owners to book rides, in order to sustain their livelihood, in support of their own cooperatives that could also lend them the money to buy their cars. According to this developer who has become my dear friend, “there is always money to be made by helping people”. In other words, his primary purpose is to help people, and making money is only secondary.

Look around you, and you will see that there is always a national and social problem that could be solved by a scientific and technological solution. You do not have to look far, because these problems are just around us, right under our noses, so much so that you could even smell these problems. Of course, I am not just talking about air pollution because there are other obvious problems too, such as traffic congestion, flood control, illegal drugs, garbage disposal and substandard products. About the latter, yet another developer has come up with a mobile app that will review and rate the performance of all products and services in the market. It will also review and rate the performance of government in protecting the people from public safety threats and from environmental safety threats.

E-mail: iseneres@yahoo.com