DOST News
Short link: https://wp.me/paaccn-oRO
The Technology Business Incubator (TBI) Summit of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) was again held at the 3rd Day of the Philippine Startup Week (PSW) 2022 which revolved around “Homegrown Heroes: Incubating Future Tech Giants”.
DOST, through its Innovation Council, the Philippine Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD), put a spotlight on the challenges and successes of homegrown heroes and the role of the TBIs in nurturing and supporting them.
PCIEERD Executive Director Dr. Enrico “Eric” C. Paringit in his talk discussed the major accomplishments of the DOST Startup Development Program. One of them is the impact of the support the science deparment has provided to the startups and TBIs.
“The TBIs have truly been significant in building a thriving startup ecosystem and in developing innovative startups in their respective localities who have the potential to become the next technology superstars,” he said.
“The first 15 grantees of the Startup Grant Fund have collectively created 455 jobs, acquired 647 clients, raised Php97.4 million in private investment and generated Php280.7 million of revenue. If you look at the figures, the amount of investment plus the total revenue of the startups have already exceeded the amount of funding we have provided them. We are optimistic that these figures will increase as we measure the impact from the startups we funded in 2021 and 2022”, Paringit added.
As for the TBIs, the PCIEERD chief said they have collectively incubated and nurtured 1,369 startups, created more than 5,000 jobs, raised over Php1.7 billion in private investments, and generated Php766.7 million worth of private investment. Additionally, the TBIs themselves have also received a total of Php118.3M million in private investments from their various partners.
“Our investment for the TBIs since 2018 amounts to a total of Php244 million, and we are glad that our startups have attracted people and organizations to invest in them, as manifested in the investments and revenues they have raised and generated,” Paringit noted.
One of the highlights of the summit are the keynote speeches from a TBI manager and a DOST-funded startup.
Prim Paypon, the executive director of Asian Institute of Management – Dado Banatao Incubator (AIM-DBI), discussed how the TBI has supported their startups during the pandemic, the core values that a TBI Team should have, and the best practices of AIM DBI.
Alfred Gersava, co-founder of Virtualahan, a Davao-based social enterprise funded under the PCIEERD Women Helping Women – Innovating Social Enterprises (WHWISE) Program, on the other hand, shared their humble beginnings, local and global successes to inspire future technopreneurs that it is possible to go from being “zero” to “hero”.
The summit also featured startup founders from the Visayas like Nel Laygo of Peddlr (Samar), Neil Clyde Kho of The Green Table (Cebu), Wilvie Añora of AtoANI (Bohol) and Noreen Bautista of Panublix (Iloilo). They all shared their biggest hurdles/challenges being a startup/social enterprise from the countryside and how they overcome those hurdles/challenges, their greatest success story and the contributing factors that helped them achieve that success, the role of their TBIs in shaping them to become homegrown heroes and future technology giants and the importance of government support in their startup journey.
After two years of conducting the summit online, this year’s TBI Summit was held at the Blue Leaf Pavilion, McKinley Taguig City, and was attended by more than 300 participants from different parts of the country. (/)