BACOLOD City is one of the four locations in the country that will host bootcamps for college professors in the fields of information technology, computer studies, and engineering in the Visayas region who will serve as faculty mentors for the Philippine Startup Challenge (PSC) 2016.

PSC, which is now on its third year, was launched by the Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO) in partnership with the Philippine Software Industry Association, Intel Philippines, and the Philippine Society of IT Educators.

Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, executive director of Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT), said the PSC, scheduled on the last quarter of the year, is a national student start-up competition aimed to open opportunities for young “technopreneurs” to create relevant innovation as they engage with society and learn from community leaders.

Batapa-Sigue said this year’s competition is now open for entries both in the fields of software, including web and mobile systems and applications, as well as hardware innovations which apply the internet of things concepts.

“This initiative is also a way for us to empower our academe partners especially college mentors to get involved, and be updated in the opportunities that they along with their students can take advantage of,” she added.

The back-to-back Lean Startup 101, and Internet of Things Bootcamps in Bacolod is scheduled on May 20 and 21, respectively.

Batapa-Sigue said this is to equip college mentors the necessary tools and methods in guiding the students through the challenge and also in enriching their skills as ICT educators.

Mentors who have attended the bootcamps in 2014 and 2015 are automatically eligible to join the PSC 2016.

Batapa-Sigue added that mentors for hardware and internet of things tracks are required to attend the Lean Startup 101 Bootcamp as entries will be assessed and judged not only for technical skills, but also in terms of business and entrepreneurial aspect as well.

Attendance to the bootcamp is an eligibility requirement for mentors to be eligible to build student-teams and join the challenge, she added.