Davao Startup Week: Mindanao TBI Summit

Written by Rene Estremera. Posted in Report

Participants on Day 1 of the Mindanao TBI Summit

The Philippines has moved up one step to rank 52nd in the 2021 Global Startup Ecosystem Index, with Davao coming in at #4 nationwide and #786 globally as a new entry. Ms. Russell Pili, research commercialization chief of the Department of Science and Technology, disclosed this at the Mindanao Technology Business Incubation (TBI) Summit, held on August 12-13, 2022.

Ms. Brenda Valerio, a consultant to the Dept. of Information and Communications Technology, added that the Davao City startup community maturity is at level 3 or an “Accelerating Ecosystem,” based on density, culture, and capital, talent, and the regulatory environment. She summarized the results of the Davao City Ecosystem Mapping held on August 8, which identified 45 startups at the idea stage, 34 in the launch stage, 36 in the growth stage, and 67 supporters, composed of government, universities, and private firms.

For her part, Davao City Councilor Pilar Braga showed the 2021 city ordinance establishing the Davao City Inventions and Innovations Center. “We need you [the startups] to tell us what you need and what you want us to do,” she said.

Participants in Day 2 of the Mindanao TBI Summit

Priya Thatchadi of Villgro Philippines, French Llorilla of CDO Bites, and Constantino Brasileno of IDEYA also shared their business experiences on Day 2 of the Summit. In addition, DOST-XI regional director Anthony Sales and Albert Gabriel of the Department of Information and Communication Technology reported on their agencies’ TBI programs.

The University of Mindanao hosted the two-day Summit as its offering to the first Davao Startup Week organized by IDEAS-Davao, a consortium of private and public universities, agencies, and firms convened by the University of the Philippines (UP) Mindanao.

UP Mindanao chancellor Lyre Anni Murao and UM vice-president for research Maria Linda Arquiza sent messages of support to the Summit.

In closing, Mr. Miguel Carlo Guillermo, IDEAS convenor and UP Mindanao assistant professor, said, “The Davao startup ecosystem is fast-growing; from its infancy just four years earlier, it is now poised to solve problems from the region to the nation.”

UPMin’s UPGRADE is named Outstanding Incubator

Written by Rene Estremera. Posted in Report


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.”

Chancellor's Report: July 2022 Highlights

Written by Rene Estremera. Posted in Report

UP Mindanao July 2022 PAC Report.v3

Read the Chancellor's Report: July Highlights here: https://bit.ly/3T5x0H5

Creative works show Philippine-Japan relations

Written by Rene Estremera. Posted in Report

The Philippine Federation of Japanese Government Scholars (PhilaJames) celebrated Philippine-Japan Friendship Day 2022 with an exhibit on the theme “Strengthening Friendship Through Artworks.” Dr. Mercidita Villamayor, a dean of Bukidnon State University, and Atty Malu Viva, both Philajames scholars, opened the exhibit on July 30, 2022.

The exhibit shows the twin themes of Filipino and Japanese life through the paintings of visual artist Teody Boylie Perez, a Philajames scholar and associate professor at the University of the Philippines (UP) Mindanao Department of Humanities.

The Filipino paintings feature Prof. Perez’s recurrent themes of life in marginalized communities and the indigenous people. “Fisherman’s Village,” at eight feet wide and three feet high, is the biggest work on display. In addition, his GSIS painting competition finalist, “Life Goes On,” is featured in the exhibit.

The Japanese paintings feature rural communities and ancient locations, which the artist produced during his six-year residency as a masteral and doctoral scholar in Japan.

Prof. Perez also delivered two lectures on the historical development of art in Japan and the Philippines compared to the Western world to further enrich appreciation of the Philippine-Japan relationship.

The exhibit, the artist’s 15th solo exhibit, is located in his residence and gallery in Ulas, Davao City.

Prof Perez has exhibited his paintings and artworks of Davao community life in Japan, China, and the USA, earning him a Datu Bago Award from the Davao City government.

More photos here: https://www.facebook.com/bong.perez.3597/posts/pfbid0jWCKp6kXf3395XZFmWNLJ3z9dBd3x1xfjw12PkWkM715zvdk2sJXp2V1GWdSt3fHl

Disaster-prone Davao City villages urged to codify local plans

Written by Rene Estremera. Posted in Report

A paper by Assoc. Prof. Karen Joyce Cayamanda urged barangay or village groups to share best practices and codify their experiences following flooding and other localized disasters in order to build up apt responses in various areas. Prof. Cayamanda made this recommendation in her paper on risk communication management presented at the 3rd International Conference on Multidisciplinary Industry and Academic Research (ICMIAR) held online on July 29-30, 2022.

Cayamanda said sharing community-based experiences can show how community members react and adapt to disasters and stimulate risk perception and communication among residents, from which community mechanisms can emerge that strengthen the collective responses and increase a community’s resilience against future threats.

Prof. Cayamanda’s paper earned her a “Best Presenter” award at the conference plenary session and acquires renewed relevance in the wake of recent community-level disruptions in her study area and continuing local government efforts to improve their DRRM system.

“The prevalent risk communication system is ‘top-down’ despite local residents' awareness of their vulnerability,” she said.

“In this way, communities can build or discover their own adaptive mechanisms, encourage an active response, and further strengthen the community. Their efforts can complement the traditional ‘top-down’ centralized disaster risk-reduction management (DRRM) approach,” she said.

The ICMIAR conference, with the theme “Sustaining community resilience through education and research,” was organized by the Institute of Industry and Academic Research Incorporated, a registered publisher and continuing professional development provider. It also had sessions focusing on business management and accounting, education management and development studies, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and the humanities and the social sciences.

Recently, Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte told barangays to consolidate similar concerns, including security and disaster response, as the local government drafts its executive-legislative agenda in the next few months.

Traditionally, the local government places a large percentage of its annual budget for disaster response as a part of the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund.

More Articles...