UPMin’s UPGRADE is named Outstanding Incubator
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| The UPGRADE team | Richard Day |
The IDEAS-Davao consortium named the University of the Philippines (UP) Mindanao’s UPGRADE as Outstanding Incubator and its center manager Richard Day as Outstanding Rainmaker at the Davao Startup Champion Awards Night, held on August 14, 2022, at the culmination of the first Davao Startup Week.
IDEAS-Davao, the Innovation and Development Accelerators Consortium for Startups in Davao, is a non-profit consortium of private and public universities, agencies, and firms dedicated to creating a startup ecosystem in the region.
UPGRADE, or the University of the Philippines Growing and Developing Enterprises, is UP Mindanao’s Technology Business Incubator (TBI) dedicated to helping social enterprises and business startups. In addition, it has forged partnerships with national government agencies, NGOs, civil society organizations, and over 17 global partners.
UPGRADE currently implements the Department of Science and Technology’s “Handholding Starting Incubators from Higher Education Institutions for Readiness towards Innovation and Technopreneurship” (HIHEIRIT PA MORE).
Rainmaker Richard Day, for his part, has successfully gained approvals for proposals with a total value of P39 million, such as the IDEAS-Davao consortium, the HIHEIRIT PA MORE, and the “Women-Helping-Women: Innovating Social Enterprises.”
In other awards, Sureplus, a social enterprise that resells, repurposes, and reallocates surplus food to minimize food wastage and hunger, was awarded Startup of the Year.
IDEAS-Davao awarded Mugna Technologies as Outstanding Startup Champion in the Private Sector and the Department of Trade and Industry for the Public Sector.
In addition, the Bloom cafe was named Best Coworking Space.
Trophies of appreciation were awarded to representatives of partners Philippine Women’s College, DevCon Davao, Women in AI Philippines, WordPress Davao, ShopSuki, Bits Circle, AgriDom, and Coffee for Peace.
In closing, UP Mindanao’s technology transfer chief Lynda Buenaobra reported that IDEAS-Davao undertook 17 preparatory and main events in August for the Davao Startup Week. For his part, Asst. Prof. Miguel Guillermo, IDEAS-Davao project lead, said, “I declare the doors wide open for the Davao startup community.”