Rizzalyn Vales

Starting them young Aspiring inventors and entrepreneurs are given a chance to compete for development The Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communication Technology office (DoST-ICTO), in partnership with Intel Philippines, recently launched the Philippine Start-Up Challenge (PSC) 2016 to promote entrepreneurship among the youth and let them be involved in creating innovative technological ideas that can address relevant societal issues today. The PSC is a national competition for aspiring inventors. It encourages the youth to be more creative with the help of connectivity and technology. It aims to promote a sense of entrepreneurship among the youth and to continue the creation of investible ideas. The objective of PSC is to encourage students to come up with their innovative start-up ideas as early as possible. It also urges Information Technology (IT) and engineering professors and educators with business backgrounds to have eligible knowledge about the objectives of the PSC. The launching of PSC 2016 was headed by Intel Philippines’ general manager Calum Chisholm. Among the speakers were DoST-ICTO deputy executive director Monchito Abrahim; Blast Asia Inc. president and CEO Arup Maity; and PSITE former president John Ruerom who said, “There are soft skills and hard skills and we like to see the students’ ideas come to life…” The initiative strives to uplift and improve the quality of education among Filipinos. It also helps professional teachers achieve higher knowledge about technological innovation and inculcate it into the minds of young professionals. “Majority of local software start-ups started during college years,” added Abrahim. Ruero, in his talk about encouraging students to take the challenge, said that they would also want to include even the allied programs like BS Mathematics or natural science. “You will be amazed that some of them are doing projects related to IT. Why not include them in the Engineering programs as well? One more thing that I wish to draw as a challenge to the different stakeholders here… This is a very successful start of the Start-Up. We are now encouraging the teachers to become entrepreneurs themselves. Why? Because besides the knowledge that the students and graduates have, I think they really need to gain experiences which is in actual industry.” “What I am excited about joining this Philippine Start-Up challenge is imagining the end of 2016. Can you imagine different students from different nations across the country creating innovative ideas and technology, which can help address societal problems today?” said Chisholm. They will conduct workshops in different regions by means of booth camps to make sure that the participants are given an orientation before the competition begins. They will also orient professors and mentors to support and coach their student participants regarding the mechanics of the competition. “The workshops are usually a one-day event, but since we have Internet of Things (IoT), we’ve extended it to two days to cover IoT basics and concepts handled by mentors from Intel.” said Carla Legaspi, CPS Team lead for the Innovation Booth. IoT presents a huge opportunity for aspiring inventors. “Intel is committed to supporting innovation in this space and look forward to the entries that have the potential to transform experiences across industries and society. The mentors of the PSC 2016 for the teams must have attended “at least one booth camps during 2014 and 2015 both camps,” she added. Since the PSC challenge started, it has become a way to harness and cultivate local talents. “We want them to know that they can build a company that they want,” said Abrahim. “What we’re doing now is devote time to creating and making things starting from one device and developing it into a system that can be usable and that is relevant to the societal problems. The opportunity there is to help aspiring young inventors to further develop their ideas and see that it comes to life,” said Chisholm. “We will continue to instill the good creation of ideas that can resolve relevant issues of society today,” said the management of Philippine Society of IT Educators. — Contributed by Rizzalyn Vales