Can Geeks Meet in Palawan Offer Tech Fixes to Environment Crises?

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and private stakeholders of the premier annual tech conference in the Philippines seek to harness the startup community in helping fix the country’s environmental problems.

“Aside from gathering tech entrepreneurs and professionals as we have done in previous Geeks on a Beach, we hope serial entrepreneurs, Filipino-Americans from Silicon Valley, will provide more heft to the event,” said Tina Amper of TechTalks.ph.

“Yobie Benjamin, among others, had invested in a startup that protects wildlife in Kenya and mangrove forests in Brazil and earning the carbon credits in the process. You have to listen to how he does it,” added Amper who is now organizing the fifth Geeks on a Beach or GOAB. Yobie was awarded 2015 Technology Pioneer of the World Economic Forum and is an alumni of the University of the Philippines.

“The strong and promising potential for the Philippines to be a location for tech start-ups is “tremendous” because of the talent pool, GlycoProX and Veem co-founder Aldo Carrascoso said.”

GlycoProX is on the verge of developing a computation plus instrumentation-based cure for breast cancer. Its co-founders, including Fil-Am Carrascoso, have proven track record of success with value creation of half a billion U.S. dollars.

Carrascoso was also Founder/ CTO Of Jukin Technologies/Jukin Media — which include viral video brands such as FailArmy, World’s Funniest and others. Aldo is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and technology disruptor. Prior to Jukin, he founded a number of ventures in global B2B matchmaking, international trading / finance and business process outsourcing. Aldo has an MBA from Babson University and a graduate of Ateneo De Manila University.

“Palawan boasts of global environmental wonders like the underground river, the Tubbataha reef and world class beaches.” As such, GOAB will tackle the theme of “Environment and Technology”, and it will also have tracks on “Startups in the Region”, “Creatives for the Future”, and “Tech for Challenging the World”, added David Overton, CEO of Sym.ph and Chief GOAB Geek.

GOAB will happen on August 24-25, 2017 at Puerto Princesa City in Palawan, he said.

“We also hope to push DICT projects that we launched recently. These projects like Pipol Konek National Free Wifi Program, the National Government Portal, and the National Broadband Project are designed to give birth to digital Filipinos,” said Undersecretary Mon Ibrahim.

PLDT, Smart, Voyager, PayMaya, ePLDT, Smart DevNet, PLDT Enterprise, and PLDT Innolab are supporting GOAB as co-presenters while ASPACE is co-producer. The silver sponsors include Payoneer, Zalora, PouchNATION, Istorya.net, Synergy 88 Digital, Uniform Solutions, and AtoX Solutions. The official airline partner is Philippines Airasia and the official ticketing partner is Ticketbase. The bronze sponsors are NXTLVL Academy, LabPH,, APNIC, Spring Valley Corporation, and NorthRidge Partners.

The media partners are e27, Tech in Asia, Bohol News Daily by Auza.net, Innopub Media, Geeks in Cambodia, Asian Journal Publications, Balikbayan Magazine, Mobile Ecosystem Forum, ConnectedWomen.co and QueenCityCebu.com, The organizational partners are the Philippine Software Industry Association, the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines, UP CeBuInIT, Digital Commerce Association of the Philippines, DevelopersConnect, Science and Technology Advisory Council – Silicon Valley, Mynimo, Teradoor, Israel Chamber of Commerce Philippines, and the Cloud Security Alliance Philippines.

GOAB is organized by TechTalks.ph, powered by Sym.ph, branding by Happy Garaje, and pr by PRWorks. For registration or partnership information or further details, visit www.GeeksOnABeach.com, follow on Twitter/Facebook Geeks On A Beach, or contact hello@GeeksOnABeach.com.