DOE: We Will Follow What’s Good for Us

Wazzup Pilipinas!

In the wake of President Rodrigo Duterte's pronouncement that the administration will not honor the December 2015 Paris agreement on climate change which the Philippines adopted along with 200 countries, Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said today the country will implement an energy policy that meets our specific economic requirements.

"We will chart our own course in so far as energy is concerned to ensure energy supply security considering that developing countries like the Philippines have low carbon emissions. President Duterte is correct in saying that the country is still in the process of industrialization. We must therefore use whatever energy resources are available and affordable for power generation," Cusi said.

"While we signed the Paris agreement last year committing ourselves to limit our carbon emissions, we cannot ignore the fact that our level of economic development at this point does not allow us to rely completely on renewable energy sources or clean energy," Cusi added.

"We need diversified energy sources to support our growing economy. The Department of Energy is formulating a strategic fuel policy mix to propel the country's growing economy," Cusi emphasized.

"We need to build more baseload power plants while also aggressively pushing for clean energy," he added.

“The DOE,” Cusi stressed, "stands firm in promoting energy efficiency and conservation to complement its thrust for clean energy development following the country's Intended Nationally Determined Contributions on climate change mitigation efforts."

Cusi added, “We will continue to adhere to internationally accepted environmental standards in our energy use." The DOE is working with the National Economic Development Authority, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Climate Change Commission to develop a balanced and sustainable energy policy framework.

President Duterte said the Paris agreement on climate change is "blocking the progress of developing countries like the Philippines" and that the industrialized countries are “dictating the destiny” of developing ones by requiring them to cut carbon emissions.

During the election campaign, Duterte said that industrialized nations should help developing ones comply with the Paris agreement by providing financial assistance to cope with climate change.

DICT Should Enable the Sector by Getting Rid of Bureaucratic Red Tape

Wazzup Pilipinas!

DICT Secretary Rodolfo Salalima’s has called for “good public service” from telco operators in the country. Globe said that it remains committed to its purpose of strengthening the nation through ICT by continuing investments in the sector. “Globe invests millions of dollars annually for network expansion and service improvements,” said Globe General Counsel Froilan Castelo. In terms of capital expenditures, the Philippines ranks second to China with almost 30% of telco revenues spent on CAPEX, the second highest in Asia.

“Further, Secretary Salalima’s proposed executive order to help rationalize the permitting process for telco infrastrusture, once in place, would be a respite from the difficulties we encounter in putting up cell sites and right-of-way issues for fiber optic cables,” added Castelo. The reduction of bureaucratic red tape was also presented by the company as a key measure that local government units can implement to help the sector, during the recently concluded Regional Competitiveness Summit, chaired by Guillermo Luz of the National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines. It is important for the government to play its role not only as a regulator but also as an enabler of the sector. If put into action, “this bodes well with what the public really wants, a better internet experience,” said Castelo.

Castelo also said that Globe will continue to roll out new network capacities using the spectrum assets it gained as a result of the joint buyout of SMC's telco assets. Reacting to the recent statement of the PCCI, Castelo clarified that the company is not hindering the PCC from doing its job. “We are not in any way blocking the PCC from performing its mandate. In fact, we repeatedly invited the PCC to exercise its plenary powers under Section 12 of the Competition Act to investigate the conduct and behavior of the companies on this transaction for possible violations of the Act. Globe has consistently relayed to the PCC its willingness to submit to this investigation, and Globe is confident that all its actions pertaining to this transaction are all legal and above-board as certified by its legal counsels,” he said.

All parties should abide by the provision of Memorandum Circular 16-002 and this includes the PCC who is expected to uphold its own rules and the Philippine Competition Act. "Globe followed to the letter the rules of the PCC, and the same should be appreciated by the PCC,“ Castelo added.

NEC Announces New AI Technology Brand, “NEC the WISE”

Wazzup Pilipinas!

NEC Corporation announced that it will be branding its lineup of artificial intelligence (hereinafter, “AI”) technologies as “NEC the WISE”(*) and globally launching this new brand and its mark as part of NEC’s efforts to contribute to the realization of a safe, secure, efficient, and equal society in which people work together with AI to enhance technological advancements.

In recent years, AI technologies have experienced tremendous breakthroughs amidst the explosive growth of data volume resulting from the increased sophistication of analysis engines (i.e., software) and the improved processing capabilities of computers. These technologies are currently attracting attention for their usefulness in complementing human abilities, solving societal issues, and creating a more convenient society.

“We have named our lineup of cutting-edge AI technologies ‘NEC the WISE’ to reflect NEC’s strong desire to facilitate cooperation between people and AI as we continue to leverage our advanced wisdom to solve the increasingly complex and sophisticated problems confronting society,” says Katsumi Emura, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO). “To accelerate the development and use of state-of-the-art AI technologies supporting advanced fields such as IoT, Big Data, and Security, which are at the core of NEC’s Solutions for Society, NEC will be focusing its efforts on providing innovative solutions that contribute to not only the resolution of societal problems but also the transformation and growth of enterprises.”

NEC has promoted the development of AI-related technology for nearly half a century in the domains of visualization, analysis, and control and guidance. As a result of these efforts, many of NEC’s AI technologies, including speech recognition, image and video recognition, language and semantic understanding, machine learning, prediction and detection, and optimal planning and control, are either unprecedented or ranked No. 1 in the world. (**)

NEC’s lineup of cutting-edge AI technologies

NEC’s AI technologies are already being utilized for a variety of solutions, including an immigration control system equipped with facial recognition technology boasting the world’s highest degree of accuracy(**), a failure sign monitoring system for large-scale plants that can be used to discover imperceptible changes and recognize them as a sign of failure, and a retail ordering system based on highly accurate demand forecasting that uses machine learning technology. These solutions can be applied to the creation of safe and secure environments in the realm of Public Safety, the monitoring of large-scale social infrastructure, and enterprises looking to enhance their marketing abilities and operational efficiency.

“Going forward, AI will make it possible to provide people with suggestions for problems without a clear single answer, such as management decisions and the development of new products. NEC is therefore committed to offering advanced solutions that will help people make decisions from a broader point of view. We will also be proactively leveraging open innovation and utilizing a wide array of AI technologies to maximize the value we provide to our customers,” says Katsumi Emura.

Optimization of intellectual and creative activities through collaboration between people and AI

Note:

(*) NEC the WISE is a portfolio of AI technologies developed by NEC for enriching human intellect and creativity. This portfolio represents our strong determination to harness the wisdom of humans and AI working together to resolve the increasingly complex and intertwined issues society is facing today.

The NEC the WISE mark is a simple, opaque triangular pyramid with a cube in the center. The keen edges and futuristic shape of the pyramid represent our intention to hone our technologies to precision and use them as a cornerstone of future innovations. The cube is the core of wisdom collected as AI technologies.

The orientation of the mark expresses our goal of bringing stability to societies and creating a brighter world for everyone by harmonizing people, society and AI.

(**)

http://www.nec.com/en/global/solutions/biometrics/technologies/nist_proven_accuracy.html