LGUs must use technology for smart governance

By: Carlson B. Alelis

THE Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) encouraged local government units (LGUs) to adopt its technologies for “smart” governance.

Smart governance refers to the utilization of data and information and its increasing role, which allows decision-making to be more science and evidence-based.

According to Dr. Enrico Paringit, executive director of PCIEERD, some of these technologies initially were not intended for purposes of contributing to the development of smart governance, but they have converged towards finding proper solutions to concerns in LGUs.

Some of the examples that he mentioned were technologies and solutions to help in traffic management, environmental protection, assessment of the quality of existing infrastructure, and disaster risk reduction, among others.

“We would like to say that these are smart solutions for smart governance to foster smart cities,” he said.

A group of researchers delivered their tech talks to participants of a forum entitled, “Smart Governance for Smart Cities: Roles of Science, Technology, and Innovation,” as part of PCIEERD’s 9th anniversary held in Iloilo City recently.

Participants, particularly those in the LGUs, were given an opportunity to ask questions and interact with the presenter with regard to their technologies and solutions that can be adopted in their cities and towns.

According to Engr. Rowen Gelonga, LGUs are given the chance to approach the presenters to ask about the terms of reference, conditions, and the availing of technologies.

“It might also be a good opportunity for our LGUs to point out what their needs are and the issues that they are facing, so if they can give this type of feedback to our researches and scientists, research and development activities can be improved,” he said.

There have been initial talks with the city and provincial government of Iloilo, national government agencies, and the private sector for “Innovate Iloilo.”

“We are coming up with Innovate Iloilo, it’s like we’re crafting a road map where we would like to position Iloilo City and province as an innovation hub,” Gelonga said.

He added that this is one of the priorities of the city and province of Iloilo, particularly Congressman and mayor-elect Jerry Treñas. (PIA)