DOST Undersecretary and Regional Director Visit iDEYA:CTI

DOST Undersecretary and Regional Director Visit iDEYA:CTI

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by Celesamae Vicente, CCS

Undersecretary Rowena Guevara and Regional Director Alfonso Alamban visited iDEYA: Center for Technopreneurship Innovation, the DOST-funded Technology Business Incubator in MSU-IIT on February 29, 2020. 

Highlights of the “kamustahan session” with Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension Jinky Bornales and the DOST team included discussions on the thrusts of DOST towards research commercialization, as well as available funding grants and opportunities that university researchers can apply for. 

Researchers can apply for  DOST’s Science for Change Programs such as The Collaborative Research and Development to Leverage Philippine Economy (CRADLE) Program. It encourages synergistic relationships between the academe, research and development institutions, and the industry through collaborative Research and Development (R&D) projects. Under the CRADLE Program, the private sector industry will identify the problem; and the Higher Education Institution (HEI) or Research and Development Institution (RDI) will undertake the R&D to solve the problem. 

Another program of the DOST is Smarter Philippines through Data Analytics R&D, Training and Adoption (SPARTA). This comes with scholarship opportunities for 30,000 learners that are interested in data science, and analytics via online learning. It aims to put in place the necessary online education, research and development mechanisms and infrastructure to not only enable the industry of data science and analytics but also to advance smart governance practices.

Research proposals can also be submitted to DOST-PCIEERD which has identified areas such as Environment Sector, Process Sector, Advanced Materials, Nanotechnology, and Photonics,  Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Sector, Electronics Sector, Space Technology Sector, Good Governance through Data Science and Decision Support System (GODDESS),  MSMEs Cost-Competitive Low Carbon Systems, Innovative Unmanned and Autonomous Vehicle Systems and Applications, Smart Approach for the Construction Industry, Mining and Minerals Sector, Metals and Engineering Sector,  Food Sector, and the Creative Industry Sector. 

During the visit, Undersecretary Guevara emphasized that MSU-IIT belongs to the top seven universities in the country and first place in Mindanao that has been granted funding in the last five years because of its potent ideas. She hopes that MSU-IIT continues to be a leading institution not just in research but also in commercializing its outputs in Mindanao. 

iDEYA Announces its Startup Alpha Batch

iDEYA Announces its Startup Alpha Batch

by Marlo C. Novino

The Mindanao Startup Challenge (MSC), banner program of iDEYA: Center of Innovation and Technopreneurship (CIT), was a Mindanao wide competition designed to generate startup teams which will become the in-house incubatees of the center. It received a total of 52 entries which were submitted from as far as the Davao Region, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Soccsksargen, and Bohol. Out of the 52 entries, 42 of them were in their idea stage, nine (9) were already in the prototyping stage, and one (1) is in the scaling stage. The final Top Seven (7) teams were announced last November 7, 2016 during the MSC three-day Bootcamp and culmination day.

The center also incubated homegrown startups from the Entrep – 197 Class of the Marketing Department, CBAA, and some MSU-IIT team winners from other national technology-based startup competitions such as Bank of the Philippine Islands’ SINAG U Challenge, Globe and Molave Development Foundation’s App Challenge Cebu.

The final nine (9) startup alpha batch of the center are as follows:

my.Eskwelawhich is an online platform that monitors and maximizes students’ performance;

GoPhilanthro helps in providing information regarding social welfare through crowd sourcing;

ArduFarm is a smart and modular aquaponics system;

knapp, which is an online delivery platform using local habal-habal;

magbisaya is a Cebuano-based learning application for children;

FarmSense develops drones dedicated for agriculture precision;

HomeSearch is a platform that brings tenants and home rental owners together for a convenient transaction;

Encase produces smartphone cases made of engineered bamboo; and

E-One Seven, which is a Filipino made mind board game.

The teams will undergo a three-month incubation phase equipping them with necessary trainings and mentorships relating to the market and their customer, their innovation and product and eventually their pitch to customers and investors. They will also undergo different writeshops such as patent and grant writing. Senior experts from the innovation and startup industry such as Matthew Escobido of Asian Institute of Management, Chino Atilano of Time Free Innovations, Joie Cruz of Taktika Multimedia, Carlo Valencia of StartupPH Mentorship, and Artie Lopez of Brainsparks.

The center is now actively preparing for the second run of the Mindanao Startup Challenge this April.

Topics : iDEYA  CIT  CBAA