Convergent Ecosystems

In line with the purpose of this blog, I am posting the Closing Remarks I gave last February 28, 2007 during the awarding ceremonies of the BPI-DOST Science Awards 2007 at the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU). The said award is given annually to three (3) graduating students from the science and technology disciplines of ten (10) select schools in the country (of which ADDU is one of them) with premium given on their researches (aside from the usual criteria of academic performance, leadership and involvements). My analogy of convergent ecosystems also applies to what the IT, business, government, and academic communities of Davao are collectively working for...

A pleasant afternoon to everyone.

When I was preparing for this message, I was trying to reclaim the meaning of this yearly ceremony which has actually become routine along the years. For the past fourteen years, way back 1994, the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) has been screening its candidates for the coveted award. Every year, since then, three exceptional students were chosen and conferred the award. Some of our best students in the Computer Studies (CS) Division have figured well in the past years except for the last three years when the criteria and timeframe were changed. The CS Division is actually still reeling from the change because our senior researches and projects get to be defended by late February or early March (just like what’s happening at this very moment upstairs at the 6^th floor). The new criteria and timeframe of the award expects the researches and projects to be fully implemented by late November or early December. The CS Division seniors don’t actually have a chance of being considered in the screening process since they just defended their proposals mid-October and two months will not be enough to implement and firm up their researches and projects. This somehow explains my lukewarm attitude towards the award lately.

In my effort to find meaning, the word “ecosystem” came across my mind. This project, the BPI-DOST Science Awards, is actually a convergence of three ecosystems: the Ateneo, BPI, and DOST. When I looked into its operational definition, an ecosystem is a relatively self-contained, dynamic system composed of a natural community along with its physical environment. It involves complex interactions between the natural community and the flows of energy and matter through it. Ecosystems have many classifications in many different ways and varied contexts. But this struck me – a rigidly separable ecosystem is not a precise notion. It is not clear where one ecosystem ends and another begins.

It dawned on me that even if we are unique and independent ecosystems, we are interconnected, we are interdependent, and we need to interface. And this is where the meaning comes in. An ecosystem cannot remain rigidly independent from other ecosystems since an ecosystem, by its very nature, is interconnected with other ecosystems. This interconnectedness requires a certain degree of interdependence and this can only be achieved through interfaces with other ecosystems. And the interfaces involve varied “flows of energy” – good or bad. The ecosystems, to sustain themselves, adapt to the effects of the “energy flows”.

The CS Division is a little ecosystem within the Ateneo ecosystem. It has been affected by the “energy flows” from BPI and DOST. It has to adapt appropriately if it believes in the essence of the interface with BPI and DOST. And we actually have started the adaptation stage. We are adjusting our curricula to have the proposals ready by end of the second semester of the junior year and the final defense ready by end of the first semester of the senior year. With this adjustment, our seniors can contend with the BPI-DOST Science Awards as well as refine further their researches and projects for possible entrepreneurial ventures before they graduate. So it’s just a matter of time that our best students will figure well again in this award as well as contribute to the growth of our local IT industry, another ecosystem, in the coming years. Abangan…

To end, I would like to believe that our convergence is anchored on the values of excellence and quality. And our two awardees, Liezel and Lesley, are epitomes of these core values. May we continue to sustain our partnership and defend it from the emerging culture of quick fixes, instant results and shortcuts – in short, mediocrity. We don’t want this negative “energy flow” to ruin our convergent ecosystems. Today, let’s celebrate the harvest of our interconnectedness, our interdependence, our interface. As Joey Ayala, a Davaoeño artist and product of the Ateneo, would put it in one his songs – “tayong lahat ay magkaugnay”. If ABS-CBN has “kapamilya”, GMA7 has “kapuso”, then we have “kaugnay”.

Magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat, mga kaugnay.