Building a culture of innovation

A culture of science, technology and innovation would not be complete without a strong sense of patriotism. Technology (DOST), if Filipinos want to expand the range of local industries.

"Just look in our homes – many of the things we use are still imported," says Fortunato de la Peña, secretary of science and technology. "We can still do so much."

Cultivating such a culture is the goal of National Science and Technology Week, the annual DOST exhibition that has been going on for almost three decades.

This year's exhibition July 17 to 21, 9 am to 6 pm According to Mr. De La Peña, the World Trade Center in Pasay City will be more accessible to visitors, as the exhibitions will be grouped into four groups: STI at home, STI at school, STI at work and STI at the market.

"We present our exhibitions not in terms of research and development, technology transfer or human resource development, but rather in terms of science and technology," explains De la Peña

. DOST programs such as Pinggang Pinoy and Tuklas Lunas, as well as Biotek-M, a rapid dengue infection detection test kit, which was developed with the help of DOST. Sofa potatoes can even park for a few minutes in this section to see some episodes of DOSTv, the department's official meteorology and science program.

Some national scientists will be available for a STI meet-and-greet at School Exhibit Group, which will also include Starbooks digital libraries (kiosks and open stations for research-based scientific and technological research), and Smart Surface, "a system that converts virtually any flat surface into an interactive interface." Seminars, conferences, and forums of DOST agencies and private sector partners will address innovations in education.

The STI in Workplace section will be divided into two parts: cityville and countryville. Trends in transport services, research and development technologies, and disaster management will be presented, as well as the latest technological advances in agricultural technologies.

Finally, MSMEs assisted by DOST (micro, small and medium-sized enterprises) occupy a central place. 19659003] De la Peña says it will also be an interactive booth, with products developed by the beneficiaries of the Community Empowerment through Science and Technology (CEST) program and adopters of the Small Business Technology Update Program (SETUP).

The main theme of the exhibition is "Innovation for Collective Prosperity".

Focusing on businesses, especially MSMEs, De La Peña says that innovation is the key to lasting success and differentiates the rest of the competition.

"If you're already an existing entrepreneur, you know that others can easily copy what you're doing.It's like the hot sal pan phenomenon, where everyone would just put in place their own hot pandesal store, "he says.

He makes an example of a suman maker in Calapan, Mindoro, that DOST helped in 2010: The first "installation" that I saw was just an area to make suman his lihiya and the latik. When they were trained on how to do the packaging, it was then that they changed the suman package into cubes, placing 24 in a box, with the latik, [which they] treated to extend the shelf life. When I went back, I saw a full-fledged factory working, not the kitchen that I [first] saw. They also sell latik as another line of products. But more than that, one of the kids was doing marketing in Metro Manila, so it can now be purchased in grocery stores. "

Although food processing, says De la Peña, is still the strongest category among MSMEs, it also notes that technology startups in the development of software applications are also increasing.

DOST helps these entrepreneurs through incubators of technology companies in universities.

De Peña also believes that local producers of electronics and wellness Beauty products have a lot of growth potential because he says that we still rely heavily on imported products in these categories.

But for science, technology, and innovation to really flourish, De la Peña points out that the inculcation of these products is very important. Such a culture should begin.

It also stresses the need for young people to give back to the country once they leave school and enter the labor market.

Human resources development is very important. Culture, I think, can be better cultivated at a young age, and allow our teachers, "he says." In the end, that's [about building] a science, a technology, an innovation and a nationalist culture. "