The government is leveling up and placing in the global map the incubators in its technology business incubation (TBI) program in response to the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0).
To stress this point,
memorandums of understanding (MOUs) were signed by 12 Department of Science and
Technology (DOST)-assisted TBIs across the Philippines for the upgraded TBI
program during the Third National Technology Business Incubator Summit on November
20.
The TBI 4.0 program aims to
upgrade the capabilities of the agency’s technology business incubation network
to set off their “internationalization.”
“Through the DOST TBI 4.0
program, we are currently leveling up our DOST TBIs to be on a par with
well-known foreign incubators and put the Philippines on the map in terms of
services and start-up support. We aim for global presence and offer our
start-ups opportunities so they can scale up and grow,” Science Secretary
Fortunato de la Peña said during the summit.
“The TBI 4.0 program was
conceptualized with the goal of elevating the services and programs of the DOST
TBI Network as a whole. To reiterate this point, the program aims to build upon
and expand the current strengths and capabilities of the original DOST TBIs by
means of codeveloping programs with international incubators and accelerators.
In doing so, this would allow our own start-ups to be exposed to the best
practices available in the international innovation ecosystem,” de la Peña
said.
Leaders of the 12 TBIs signed
the MOUs with de la Peña and Deputy Executive Director Engineer Raul Sabularse
of DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology
Research and Development (PCIEERD).
The 12 TBIs are: University of
the Philippines Upscale Innovation Hub; University of the Philippines Cebu;
Asian Institute of Management, AIM-Dado Banatao Incubator; De La Salle
University, Animo Labs; Caraga State University, Navigatú; West Visayas State
University, Green Technology Business Incubator; Mindanao State
University-Iligan institute of Technology, Ideya; QBO Innovation Hub;
University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines; Batangas State
University, Kite; University of the Philippines Los Baños, Sibol; and Palawan
State University, Palawan International Technology Business Incubator.
Foreign partners already
on-board are Villgro Social Enterprise Ventures in India, Swinburne University
in Australia, BCB Innovation Pte. Ltd. in Singapore, Spinoff Acadasia Pte. Ltd.
in Singapore, ThaiBispa in Thailand, while the local partners are Ideaspace and
Spring Valley, the PCIEERD news release said.
The TBI 4.0 program provides
funding support to DOST-funded TBIs to lead the assessment, co-development of
incubation programs, capacity building and co-incubation arrangements.
Sabularse said, “This year’s
summit is aimed at fostering global partnerships as a strategy for
internationalization.”
He added: “The bonds we built
today with the signing of the MOUs reassures the cooperation of everyone
involved to collectively undertake and implement the TBI 4.0 program and other
programs of the DOST and the TBIs, and also strengthens our resolve to be
responsive to the industry’s needs…. We hope to see more collaboration among
the different stakeholders flourish as a result and outcome of this summit.”
The TBI summit was part of the
Philippine Startup Week 2019, the country’s first large-scale collaborative
initiative by the DOST, the Departments of Trade and Investment (DTI), the
Information and Communications Technology (DICT), QBO Innovation Hub and
various private agencies, to showcase the Filipino start-up community through
simultaneous nationwide events.
The signing of the MOU in 2018
for the Inclusive Filipinnovation and Entrepreneurship Roadmap by DTI, DOST,
DICT, Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education and National
Economic and Development Authority, gave the government the go signal to build
the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem of the country to seize market opportunities
and address the challenges of Industry 4.0.
Industry 4.0 is a strategy and
trend adopted by many countries toward automation in manufacturing
technologies, which includes Internet of things (IoT), cloud computing,
cognitive computing and artificial intelligence.
The DOST has long supported
innovation and entrepreneurship building in the country through its major
programs, through the establishment of the TBI program. It launched 45
Incubators around the country and supported over 320 start-ups, more than 1,200
jobs, more than 110 full-blown companies and generated more than 280 million
private investments since its founding in 2009.
In response to the challenges
of Industry 4.0, the DOST, through PCIEERD, launched the “TBI 4.0 Program” to
upgrade the capabilities of the DOST TBI Network through a more
transformational intervention that would prop in the global map the country’s
TBIs.
The TBI 4.0 Program hopes to
put the country in the map by partnering and collaborating with incubators and
accelerators from other countries, developing and implementing startup programs
with these partners, and co-incubating and immersing Philippine startups in
global environments.
