The Department of Science and Technology, as one of the partners in the recently held SlingshotMNL 2015, conducted a pitching event featuring DOST supported researchers and start up teams who pitched their ideas to a group of angel investors, founders and fellow entrepreneurs last July 6, 2015 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), Pasay City.
Tagged as DOST Tech Push 2015: Innovations for Change, DOST’s pitching event was organized by the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development in collaboration with 1000 Angels’ Founder and COO, Ms. Nicole Paterno, and Dr. Luis Sison of UP Enterprise. It is a segment of the SlingshotMNL, the official start up event for APEC Philippines 2015. Entrepreneurs, investors, executives, policy makers, and people from the academe and the media attended the said event.
Five DOST researchers delivered a 5-minute pitch of the technologies derived from their DOST-funded research projects while four start-up teams from DOST-assisted Technology Business Incubators, the UP Enterprise and CebuinIt, also pitched in their technologies and current business platform. Each presenter gave a brief overview of their technologies and business model to a panel composed of selected entrepreneurs, industry professionals, and angel investors. Other participants of Slingshot MNL 2015 were also given the chance to join the event and get to know their technologies and ideas.
The panellists for the pitching event include Dr. Carlos Primo David, Executive Director of PCIEERD; Dr. Federico Gonzales, Adjunct Faculty at the Asian Institute for Management, Mr. Daniel Hersson, Consultant at the Asian Development Bank; and Ms. Maria Esther Santos, President of Smart PLDT Foundation. Angel investors from 1000 Angels also served as panelists providing feedback on how the featured enterprises can effectively package their technologies and bring them to market.
The pitching event was also intended to serve as a venue for the researchers and start- up teams to introduce their technologies and entice the would-be investors to provide support for the commercialization of such technologies.
Dr. Giovanni Tapang, from the National Institute of Physics (NIP) in UP Diliman, was the first to present “VISSER”, a low-cost yet high impact hand-held device that can be used by teachers to aid them in teaching science. Dr. Maricor Soriano, also from UP Diliman NIP, on the other hand, presented "ARRAS", a tear drop automated rapid reef assessment suite tool to more effectively monitor reefs. ARRAS is now being used by DENR and other non-government organizations.
Dr. Giovanni Tapang, presents his pitch on the technology called ‘VISSER’.
Also among the researchers who pitched their DOST-funded technologies was Dr. Jocelyn Zarate from the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB). She introduced her technology called "Mykoplus", a biofertilizer formula enriching the soil to indirectly improve the crops' speed of growth through microbes. Meanwhile, Dr. Kristine Mae Magtubo from the National TeleHealth Center of the University of the Philippines Manila pitched in a telemedicine device that can help improve healthcare in rural areas of the Philippines. She calls it the "RxBox".
Lastly, Dr. Gil Nonato Santos from De La Salle University presented his “Nano-coat”, a cheaper liquid solution made of nano-materials that can be applied on glasses to protect people and even commercial products on display from heat and UV rays.
Among the start-up teams, first to present is Mr. Eight Quizon of aDEAS Inc who introduced Edit.ed, a web application that automatically checks scientific, technical and medical manuscripts and recommends writing conventions and terminology preferences based on widely used publishing style. Ms. Charissa Anne de Jesus of Genni Hut, an incubatee of CebuinIT, pitched in PayRuler which is a complete Human Resource Information and System (HRIS) payroll system that deals with all the nitty gritty parts of human resource management.
Another technology that was pitched in was PigeonMobi of Mr. Terence Elumba, President and CEO of Elumba.com. PigeonMobi is a suite of social media marketing software armed with advanced and easy-to-use online applications. Moreover, Mr. Juan Carlos Ayeng of Red Kamatis Virtual Studios, an incubatee of UP Enterprise, presented his start-up that creates education/tourism ecosystems, modularizes 3D content for app/program customization, and performs other functions to change the way people learn, consume and advertise with digital environments.
“It is our hope that more Filipino startups will continuously be given support by investors through pitching events and conferences like these. Being part of SlingshotMNL is indeed a great opportunity to upkeep our startups and make them more competitive in international trade,” thus said Dr. Rowena Cristina L. Guevara, DOST Undersecretary for Science and Technology Services who was there to welcome the guests and participants and to inform them about what the DOST is keen on doing to support technology transfer and commercialization.
The recently concluded pitching event is the second time PCIEERD has organized such activity this year. (Arlyn Joy Amata)
