DOZENS of teachers from all over Mindanao were recently encouraged to promote technology entrepreneurship among their students so the latter could use their academic learnings to solve problems in their communities.
Thirty-six teachers from 12 schools participated in the technopreneurship training held from July 20 to 22 at the University of Southeastern Philippines in Davao, organized by leader in mobile Smart Communications (Smart).
Smart invited experts to discuss how to identify social pains and problems to be solved, how to form a good team of technopreneurs, how to ensure excellent user experience, and how to make a good pitch to investors.
After the discussions, participants were asked to form teams and come up with innovative technology proposals. One of the ideas produced was an app called USAP (Unified System for Applications in the Philippines) that seeks to eliminate the long-winding processes in applying for government documents.
Throughout the discussions and workshops, participants realized that teachers are instrumental in inspiring students to do meaningful research and come up with projects that are relevant to the community.
“It's easy to design a system, but to make it matter is always challenging,” said Lory Liza Bulay-og, a communication systems and research professor at the Mindanao University of Science and Technology.
“What is a product if no one ends up buying it or using it? Engaging students with the community—so that they get to know daily problems that can be solved by technology—puts more meaning in research,” she added.
Michael Calamba, an electronics and communications engineering professor at the Holy Cross of Davao College, said he would return to the classroom with renewed zeal. “I want my students to come up with projects based on their social responsibility as IT experts or engineers. These projects shouldn't be made just for the sake of grade completion.”
“Equipping teachers with this mindset increases their likelihood of passing it on to their students. In the long run, this sparks student interest, curiosity, and creativity,” said one of the speakers Goldy Yancha, associate director of startup incubator and accelerator Idea Space Foundation.
Other speakers were Jun Fetizanan of Idea Space, Prim Paypon of volunteer organization The Dream Project, and Phil Smithson of the On-Off Group which espouses human-centered design.
The Davao activity is the second leg of Smart’s Sweep training series for schools under the Smart Wireless Engineering and Education Program. The first session was held in Wesleyan University in Cabanatuan last June.