Saturday, February 02, 2008 Knowledge-based economy
THE government is urging the private sector, including the academe, to help the Philippines achieve a “knowledge-based” economy by investing in science and technology.
Science and Technology Secretary Estrella Alabastro said a knowledge-based economy will help build the country’s global competitiveness as it copes with a world driven by technological innovations.
Alabastro, who visited Cebu yesterday for the 4th Smart Wireless Engineering Program (Sweep) Innovation and Excellence Award, recognized the importance of the academe and urged students to become “technoprenuers” by inventing or innovating projects that can be utilized by the public.
“After graduation, most graduates seek employment. But another possible path for them is to think of being entrepreneurs based on something they have developed,” she said in an interview.
To help push the entrepreneurial mindset of students, the government, through the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), is implementing science and technology programs to improve the country’s status in the sector. These programs include the DOST-Academe Technology-based Entrepreneurship Development (Databed) and the Technology Incubation for Commercialization (Technicom).
Seed capital
DOST 7 Director Rene Burt Llanto said that through the Databed, the department will be giving out seed capital to technological innovations produced by students. The students can avail themselves of the funds through their schools.
After graduation, a student who decides to use his work for commercial purposes can do so through Technicom, which serves as an incubation stage for start-ups.
Llanto said the funding is proposal-driven and DOST has to evaluate the business plan’s potential before it goes into commercialization.
“There are a lot of works from students that stop only at the laboratory and are never recognized in the market,” said Alabastro.
“One of the challenges is that commercialization takes more time,” Llanto said.
Cebu’s academic institutions, which are also known to be technology-oriented, should lead in the government’s thrust to a knowledge-based economy, Alabastro said.
Llanto said DOST 7 is looking for students who would take advantage of the Databed and Technicom programs since the DOST has yet to receive any project proposals.
“Cebu is not accessing it that much” said Alabastro, adding that most of those that tap the Databed are students from agricultural schools.
Government funding
It is high time for technological schools to take the lead and avail themselves of the funding, she said.
Alabastro, in her speech during the Smart Sweep event, also announced that the government has allocated P3 billion to encourage research and development for technological programs.
In a discussion with the DOST officials, Smart Communications Inc. public affairs chief Ramon Isberto proposed a partnership allowing Sweep to become a channel for students and schools to submit their proposals for Databed and Technicom funding.
The 4th Smart Sweep Innovation and Excellence Award started yesterday and will end today at the SM City Cebu Trade Hall. It is the first time that the event is staged outside Manila.
Smart’s fourth staging of its annual search for innovative wireless applications designed by student teams carries the theme “Going Wireless for Disaster Preparedness.”
The 10 Sweep award finalists are applications that monitor disasters and send out alerts to the public, an integrated flood alert system, one which enables billboards to roll up or down depending on the speed of the wind, a public warning system using cell broadcasting, and a wireless disaster information manager loaded into SIMs.
A system to monitor tsunamis and send out alerts, an SMS system for disaster warnings and reporting, a scanner that will allow detecting people trapped in rubbles, a system that tracks outbreaks of diseases, and a system that monitors vibrations of bridges.
Nova Concepcion, Sweep program leader head, said earlier that Cebu partner schools — University of San Carlos, University of Cebu (Main and Banilad campuses), and Don Bosco Technology Center — submitted four entries but none made it to the finals.
Smart offers cash prizes for winners and a corresponding grant to the schools. The third place winner will get P150,000 while second place winner will receive P300,000. The first prize winner will get P500,000. The seven other finalists will get P30,000 each.
Smart is also holding today the PalaECEpan, a quiz bee involving 38 participants from Smart partner schools. (MMM)
