Engineering students from the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos (UNO-R) experienced the future of wireless technology at the PLDT-Smart Technolab. Located at the Smart Tower in Makati, the digital innovations laboratory serves as a sandbox where the PLDT Group tests cutting-edge communications and connectivity solutions that could revolutionize customer experience. Many of these innovations have yet to be launched commercially.
“The PLDT-Smart Technolab offers an opportunity for future engineers and innovators to be familiar with and learn more about upcoming mobile technologies. These are the solutions that they will most likely work on in the next few years,” said Joseph Lennart Olaivar, Assistant Vice President and Head of Network Innovations Lab and Special Projects at PLDT and Smart.
Among the innovations the PLDT Group is testing include Open Radio Access Network (ORAN), network disaggregation, extended realities, and advancements in cloud and home connectivity solutions.
“The visit to the PLDT-Smart Technolab has opened a whole new world of technologies I have never heard of before. Since I am a graduating student, my experience here has also opened my eyes to more ideas for our capstone project,” said Abrielle Kaye Barayoga, an Electronics Engineering major at UNO-R.
“We have these educational tours because we want our students to explore things that are beyond the four corners of the classroom. With the things our students have learned, hopefully this will inspire us to reach for greater things as we revolutionize ways to connect with each other,” said Ashraf Khater, one of the program heads of the College of Engineering and research director at UNO-R.
UNO-R has been a part of the Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (SWEEP) since August 2003. SWEEP is the country’s first and longest-running Philippine industry-academe linkage program that has been run by Smart. For the past 20 years, Smart’s partnership with schools has helped produce industry-ready graduates or technopreneurs by leveraging on its network, infrastructure and technologies.
Underscoring the value of promoting STEM education in the country, SWEEP and its initiatives to welcome students to the PLDT-Smart Technolab are aligned with the PLDT Group’s much broader program for inclusive, quality education, and are also aimed at helping country achieve UNSDG 9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure.