Mindanao State University-General Santos City, a premier institution in Region XII in southwestern Mindanao, was designated by IOSN ASEAN+3 as an OpenHUB - a F/OSS resource center - the first in the Philippines to cater to the ICT needs of the SoCCSKSarGen region. Situated right in the major business port of the East Asian Growth Area (EAGA), MSU-GenSan is strategically positioned as a technical support base and resource center for F/OSS to match the growing demands of the EAGA business and commercial sectors.

The OpenHUBS project was conceptualized by the UNDP-IOSN ASEAN+3 to build capacities through F/OSS training and support involving SUCs in the country. The project aims to establish a viable F/OSS ecosystem with small and medium enterprises (SMEs), non-government organizations (NGOs), and government organizations (GOs) to sustain and strengthen linkages and reach out to the community that it is mandated to serve.

Dr. Alvin B. Marcelo, IOSN ASEAN+3 Node Manager said MSU-GenSan was selected as the launch pad of the OpenHUBS Project because of the area's huge potentials in moving to F/OSS, especially in its growing business sector. "With MSU as the designated OpenHUB and with support of our local FOSS advocates, we can now easily entice our local business to move to F/OSS and eventually adopt it for their mainstream operations," he said.

Considering the OpenHUB designation as a big challenge for the University to work better and improve its services, MSU-GenSan Chancellor Atty. Abdurrahman Canacan designated Prof. Rodulfo Dorado, director of the MSU-Computer Center as the lead person for various activities related to the development of the University as an accessible F/OSS resource and technical support center.

"Local small and medium enterprises, government and non-government organizations migrating towards free and open source software (F/OSS) may now link up for support with the Mindanao State University-Computer Center here", emphasized IOSN ASEAN+3 Project Officer Dr. Francisco E. Sarmiento III.

Attended by sixty (60) decision-makers from the various sectors coming from the SOCCSKSarGen region, the conference was formally opened by Balthas Seibold, InWEnt Senior Project Manager-ICT for Business Development and Infrastructure, Dr. Francisco E. Sarmiento III, IOSN-ASEAN+3 Project Officer, Engr. Felipe Galia, MSU Vice-Chancellor for Administration and Finance and Alabel Vice-Mayor Vic Paul Salarda. More than twenty (20) resource speakers coming from various groups from Metro Manila and Mindanao were invited.

"Higher education institutions, which use F/OSS within the curriculum and within their own organization's operations, are well-positioned to provide support to the various sectors such as business, education and administration, as these communities shift from the proprietary software to the more accessible, affordable, adaptable and legal open source software solutions," Seibold stressed.

Vice-Chancellor Felipe Galia added that the selection of MSU-GenSan as an OpenHUB practically complements the ongoing build up of their ICT programs and FOSS-based systems.

Alfredo Hebrona Jr., chair of the newly organized SoCSKSarGen Open Source Society (SOSS), said the designation of MSU-General Santos as the first OpenHUB augurs well for the development of the ICT capabilities of the region's business sector.

"The major considerations that stop small or even medium-size companies from simply automating their operations are the cost of investment and the lack of technical support. With F/OSS now very much available for our businesses and with an OpenHUB right in the neighborhood for the needed technical support, there's no reason for businesses not to automate," added Hebrona, who is also president of the Sarangani Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Together with IOSN ASEAN+3, InWEnt Capacity Building International, Germany, through its it@foss program, supports the development and application of local innovative software solutions and business models based on F/OSS in the ASEAN region.


(Information in this article were gathered from various reports)