By Estrella Z. Gallardo
The Information and Communications Technology Office of the Department of Science and Technology (ICT office the- DOST) and the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) Officially launched on May 20 the 2015 Philippines Startup Challenge as part of the Manila Startup this May 18 to 22, 2015.
The Philippines Startup Challenge, now on its second year, is a nationwide startup competition for college students. This year Startup Challenge with the theme Create destructive technologies, dares the youth to develop and promote bolder, more creative and socially relevant technological innovation that would solve real life problems.
During the series of startup workshops that we have conducted before, we have seen the skills and potentials of our students all around the country in the field of engineering, computer sciences, and information technology.” Said ICT Office Deputy Executive Director for elnnovation, Monchito Ibrahim. “We believe that it is part of our duty in the side of the government to inspire this generation to construct innovations that could help and improve the lives of Filipinos, as well as people from other parts of the world.”
To capacitate college instructors and professors, who could serve as possible mentors of participating student teams to the competition, a series of Lean Startup 101 Bootcamps will be conducted in various locations across the Philippines. These boot camps will cover topics on developing startup ideas,
Creating startup business plans, as well as best pratices in effectively operating a tech startup.
Below is the Schedule of the upcoming Lean 101 Starup Bootcamps:
June 6 –Cebu City,June13-Davao City,June20-Iloilo City,July 4-Baguio City,July 8 –Metro Manila and July 25-Cagayan de Oro City.
College educators who will participate in the bootcampls will then be encouraged to form student teams that will represent their respective academic institution. The teams shall compose four (4) members (3 students and 1 faculty adviser)
To join the competition, teams should submit a 5minute video pitch presentation about their startup idea. From the overall number of entries. Top 10 teams will be selected for further mentoring sessions. The finalists will be given a chance to pitch their startup ideas to a panel of judges consisting of local startup experts during the Philippine Startup National Finals.
Winners of the Challenge will get a chance to be part of PSIA-SPRING.ph’s LaunchPad program and be mentored by prominent names in the Philippine startup scene. Aside from this. The winners will also be given access to valuable networks within the country startup ecosystem, which could lead them to future partnerships and collaborations.
Under the seedPH initiative of DOST-ICT Office, the Philippine Startup Challenge aims to cultivate the Philippine Startup Ecosystem by conducting advocacy campaigns, capability developments programs, and research initiatives.
For further details, please contact Karla Legaspi through karla.legaspi@icto.dost.gov.ph or 9200101 loc 1301 and Karen Reyes through Karen.reyes@psia.org.ph or 8172727 loc 109 (PsciJourn MegaManila)
