CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Dec. 3 (PIA) - The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) - CARAGA held its "Smarter Philippines through Data Analytics R&D, Training and Adoption (SPARTA)" virtual webinar in collaboration with the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), the Analytics Association of the Philippines, and Coursebank to jumpstart the industry of data science and analytics in the country and prepare the Philippine workforce for the 4th Industrial Revolution in the midst of the coronavirus disease (COVID) - 19 pandemic.

"We are transitioning to full digitalization because we are forced to because of the pandemic, but even without the pandemic we are still going in that direction, I don't think I need to convince you of importance of learning data science and data analytics especially now we're moving to an industry 4.0," DOST-Caraga Regional Director Dominga D. Mallonga said in her opening message.

Industry 4.0 or the fourth industrial revolution represents a new stage in the organization and control of the industrial value chain that focuses heavily on interconnectivity, automation, machine learning, and real-time data.

Through its Project SPARTA, the DOST and its partner stakeholders strive to train interested individuals to build their competencies and to initiate the mainstreaming of good practices in data science, analytics, and introduce advance smart governance practices.

"There's a lot of available data in our country and these data are not being used. There are not a lot individuals who can use it as well. We want these workers to understand on how we can use these data and empower our people," DAP Deputy Project Manager Yra Turingan explained.

Turingan also added that Data Analytics is one of skills that will be applicable in all industries in the coming decade. "We have Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, we want to process these data and utilize it."

Filipinos enrolled in Project Sparta's scholarship program can choose among different Data Analytics learning pathways, namely, Data Associate, Data Steward Data Engineer, Data Scientist, Data Analyst, and Analytics Manager.

"Let's build a competent workforce in the Philippines towards industry 4.0," DOST-Caraga Regional Director Mallonga rallied.

Since the launching of their Scholarship program, 21,673 scholars have joined their project, For more information on Project Sparta and their scholarship, interested individuals may visit their website at: https://sparta.dap.edu.ph/. (VPSB/PIA10)