The DLSU Innovation and Technology (DITECH) Fair’s seventh iteration was held last November 20 to 21 at the Richard L. Lee Engineering and Technology Block in the Laguna Campus. With the theme Innovation Next: DITECH@Laguna, the event marked its first iteration at said campus—symbolized by the ceremonial ribbon cutting by University Chancellor Br. Bernard Oca FSC and Richard L. Lee, Chairman Emeritus of HARI Foundation, Inc.
DITECH, which debuted in 2012, is a yearly event that exhibits and celebrates innovative solutions and inventions developed by members of the University. In partnership with the DLSU Intellectual Property Office (DIPO), the event is hosted by the DLSU Innovation and Technology Office (DITO).
The event featured panel discussions regarding the current innovation and collaboration between the academe and the industries, displays of Lasallian-made inventions, and the final pitches for this year’s Green Archer Innovation Awards hosted by Animo Labs—a technology business incubator formed through the partnership of DLSU and the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD).
Catching up
Welcoming DITECH’s attendees on the behalf of DLSU President Br. Raymund Suplido FSC, Oca highlighted how the Lasallian experience is geared toward “exclusive and inclusive innovation,” referring to the widespread human involvement in the development of mainstream products and services, like prosthetics and traffic systems.
Meanwhile, Dr. William Padolina, former Secretary of DOST, and Atty. Mary Grace Cruz-Yap; Director of the Documentation, Information, and Transfer Bureau of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines; served as the fair’s keynote speakers.
“We are trained to plant [the] seeds of creativity in innovation [to be] better-equipped [in harnessing and harvesting] technological outputs from our students and researchers,” said Cruz-Yap. She continued that creativity is crucial in transforming products and services to be “more enterprising,” referring to the products’ and services’ need to be more commercially available in the market .
On the other hand, Padolina emphasized the role of startups in the country’s pursuit for “an inclusive and competitive science and technology ecosystem that can address societal problems.” However, Padolina lamented that the startup ecosystem is “plagued”. He explained the correlation between poverty and the startup scene, “Our problem is that our efforts to conquer poverty is very slow compared to [our fellow] ASEAN countries.” Nonetheless, despite some setbacks, support for research and innovation is gaining traction through effective government policies such as the Republic Act No. 2067 or the Science Act of 1958 that aims to “promote scientific and technological research and development” in the Philippines.
Conversations on innovation, collaboration
The fair also highlighted panel discussions which tackled matters related to the development of innovations—with panelists varying from University administrators, to researchers and well-known industry partners.
A discussion about the current status of the innovation ecosystem in the Philippines featured Karen Ann Hipol of the British Embassy Manila. Hipol remarked on the changes in the ecosystem compared to a decade ago when she was still a consultant for the University of the Philippines, stating, “Now we have all this student legislation and even the Philippine Startup Week, and the Implementing Rules and Regulations.”
The succeeding discussion, meanwhile, focused on the collaboration between the academe and the industry, with the panelists exchanging views and perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of both parties. However, they agreed that despite the differences, the academe and industry can collaborate and learn from each other. Rojarlyn Gaid of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc., expounded, “Academia sees the industry as a customer, [whereas the] industry sees the academia as a supplier.”
Subsequently, social innovation through creative arts and technologies was the focus of the third panel discussion, tackling the topic of how the Arts innovate and get involved in solving societal problems, as well as in contributing to the vibrant growth of the creative industry.
“It’s just a very good time to be in the Arts right now in the Philippines because the government is basically pushing for creativity [which is] now in the economic development plan,” Jean Avellanosa-Dee from the SoFA Design Institute shared.
The final panel discussion, which stressed the importance of inclusive innovations or new technologies that help in tackling societal problems, called on Philippine universities to be “active participants” in the startup ecosystem and develop more inclusive solutions to current problems such as traffic management and a “sluggish justice system”. “Development should respect the people first,” Lasallian Social Enterprise for Economic Development Specialist Norby Salonga affirmed.
Recognizing potential
The Green Archer Innovation Award, which recognizes innovators and their ideas to achieve sustainable development goals, was given to the Cocoattract project team, who developed sustainable traps against cacao mirid bugs for sustainable cacao farming. With harmful pesticides being the only commercially-available remedy to these pests affecting the country’s small cacao industry, Cocoattract presented a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly alternative in exterminating cacao mirid bugs by using a potent attractant called caryophyllene—a natural compound extracted from cacao—to lure them into an insect trap.
On the other hand, the best exhibition was awarded to the Body Scanner for National Sizing System—a similar system to the Perfect Fit 3D Body Scanner developed by the Philippine Textile Research Institute of DOST. Both systems share the goal of determining a customer’s body measurements for a tailor-accurate product by providing standardized sizes of clothing in the Philippines.
Concluding the fair, DIPO Director Atty. Christopher Cruz delivered the closing remarks. Referring to the rise of innovative solutions in the Philippines, Cruz expressed, “The ecosystem for innovation is very inviting. Support is coming from the government, and the collaboration between [the] industry and [the] academe.”
However, Cruz also admitted that “there is a lot more to be done” but affirmed the importance of looking forward to the future, “We continue onward so that our country as a whole will develop an innovative culture.”
