Business people from the Visayas are now looking into technologies from the Department of Science and Technology for possible investment and business opportunities.
“We asked DoST to be our partner,” said Jude Abenoja, president of the Ormoc City Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
As a pre-event to the bustling 25th Visayas area business conference, DoST held a Technology Transfer Day featuring 74 technologies available for adoption. This is the first DoST Technology Transfer Day in the regions.
“We are selling technologies, not products,” Science Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara told the audience who were wowed by new products that were out of the market in some areas.
The audience flocked to the sample area that featured crispy and nutritious vacuum fried fruits and vegetables, among others. These products were produced using food processing equipment for DoST’s Food Innovation Centers.
DoST “sells” the technology behind the equipment to entrepreneurs who will get a license to manufacture the machines.
Abenoja said he arranged with DoST-VIII Regional Director Edgar Esperancilla to hold the DoST Technology Transfer Day a day before the business conference “to bring technologies and the DoST closer to the business sector as we share a common goal of bringing economic opportunities to the countryside.”
Around 300 out of the 500 business conference delegates attended the Technology Transfer Day.
Abenoja and DoST-VIII identified technologies that can thrive in the region and highlighted these during the Technology Transfer Day.
He enumerated them as the: carrageenan plant growth promoter, semen extender for goat, nipa sap sugar production, stabilized brown rice, complementary foods, DoST tablea, Food Innovation Center processing equipment, STARBOOKS, Eco-friendly septic system (Eco-Sep), and abaca fiber for packaging and currency base papers.
“The 11 technologies are handpicked as these as seen to work in our area,” Abenoja said.
The organizers, composed of the OrCham, DOST-VIII, DOST-Technology Application and Promotion Institute, and the Eastern Visayas State University, received a number of term sheets during the Technology Transfer Day, indicating inquiries for possible technology adoption.
“The partnership doesn’t end here,” Abenoja said. The OrCham previously partnered with the regional office for the holding of the Visayas Cluster Regional Science and Technology Week last July.
“We would like to confirm our commitment that this partnership doesn’t end here. With the help of DOST, OrCham will help the pineapple and jackfruit sector. We already discussed this with Mayor Richard Gomez,” he added.