AFI TBI Joins IPOPHL’s Program on Appropriate Technologies

Last October 25, 2012, Ayala Foundation’s Technology Business Incubator participated in the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines’ (IPOPHL) training workshop on Appropriate Technologies and Intellectual Property held at the Tanghalang Teresita Quirino of the University of Santo Tomas. In cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), this event featured the short-listed contestants for the WIPO-KIPO Competition on Innovative Solutions for Everyday Life.

Of twenty-three entries to the competition, seven were chosen for their innovations:  (1) Design and Development of a Small Scale Machine for Recycling Discarded Thermoplastic into Fibre for Insulation, (2) Utilization of Woven Water Hyacinth Fiber Mat as Corrugated Composite Roof Sheets, (3) Immunomagnetic Bead Separation Kits For Detection of Human Fecal Biomarker in 10 ml Water Samples, (4) Utilization of Waste Mango Seed Husks (MSH) as Feedstock for Biomass Briquetting, (5) Biodegradable waste decomposer, (6) Water-driven Turbine Pump, and a (7) Mini-Biodiesel Plant.  The top three teams who managed to use their knowledge and appropriate technology in solving problems in the Philippine society were awarded with a token and the cash prize of $500, $750, and $1250 respectively.

Atty. Andrew Michael Ong, Deputy Diretor General of IPOPHL talked about the “Promotion of Innovation through Effective Use of Intellectual Property Rights” where he pointed out that knowledge is best identified and delineated so that it can be owned, protected, valued, and transacted. Mr. Heum Jeng Kang of WIPO and Ms. Hee-jung Hong of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) gave back-to-back talks on the successful innovation cases of KIPO and the problem-solving methodologies, inventions, and engineering design. Mr. Omar Katbi, Head of the Outreach Services Section, Communications Division of WIPO talked on “Appropriate Technology Competitions: Experience and Outcome” emphasizing how we can utilize patent information for these solutions.

Ms. Virginia Aumentado of IPOPHL and Mr. Konard Lutz Mailander of WIPO discussed how patent information serves as a reservoir of knowledge and posed a series of business questions:  “Are there any gaps or white spaces i.e. areas with little patent protection, that permit business opportunities?”, “Where are the crowded areas?”, “What is the quality & value of an individual patent?”. A concluding panel session with Mr. Katbi, Atty. Ong, and Mr. Johnson Fong tackled Practical Approaches to Appropriate Technology Development and Commercialization: From the Idea to the Market. Ending with the challenge to the audience to cite problems in our society which they think can be solved by new technologies.

 

 

MALAYSIA EXPLORES BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

On October 16, 2012, AyalaLand, Ayala  Foundation and Ayala Property Management Corporation   welcomed  32  businessmen representing  24 IT companies from Malaysia to a site visit at UP AyalaLand Technohub,  Commonwealth Ave., Quezon City. The group’s  visit  was part   of a two (2) day Specialized Marketing Mission co-sponsored by The Embassy of Malaysia Trade Office Manila (MATRADE) and the Philippines’  Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO).

The site visit started with a short welcome  program and briefing  on the key infrastructure programs of Ayala Land as well as the  technology business incubation program being managed by Ayala Foundation.  A local official from the Office of the Quezon City Mayor, City Administrator Manny Sabalza  and,  ICTO Deputy Director, Monchito Ibrahim encouraged the trade mission  to look around for possible  ICT businesss ventures/opportunities in the Philippines.

The visit also opened up opportunity for  start-up companies  under AyalaTBI-Ayala Foundation  like Haystack, MICOM and Teknologika   to introduce their products and discuss areas of interest with the trade mission members  for possible  business collaboration.The visit paved the way for  Malaysian businessmen to meet and engage with big locators at Technohub such as Pointwest, Sea Change and LiveIT Companies in an information sharing session. The foreign guests and their local counterparts  discussed   updates and developments in the ICT industry affecting  both countries. It also included an observation tour of office buildings and physical facilities at Technohub.

Scaling Up Health Innovations by Pinoys

The HIP TechBootCamp (HIP TBC) Scaling-Up Consultation Session held last October 20, 2012 at the UP-AyalaLand TechnoHub in Diliman, Quezon City turned out to be a great success.

What started with the introductions by Ms. Rhia Ramirez of Ayala Foundation was followed by Dr. Elmer Soriano’s quick Philippine health situationer update.  The event was also graced with the presence of Dr. Bien Nillos of Zuellig Family Foundation who talked about  Ten Ways Technologies Can Help Rural Health Systems.  Dr. Bien gave his insights on how health technologies can help change health seeking behaviour, how it can make monitoring easier, and how it can make communities participative, amongst others.

As the event was geared towards the HIP TBC start-up teams, Ms. Maoi Arroyo of Hybridigm Consulting also shared her takes on having a Go-To Market strategy / total addressable market, looking at customers & influencers, and considering the ‘freemium model’. Maoi also emphasized that as a start-up technopreneur, one has got to remember that as you increase your execution, you thereby lower your technical &market risks and at the same time increase your valuation in order to attain the maximum vision possible.

The session was capped with a consultation where each of the start up teams presented to a panel comprised of Maoi Arroyo, Engr. Rey Negre of Intellectual Property Philippines Office, and Dr. Denton Chua, President and CEO of Health Cube. Facilitated by Dr. Elmer Soriano and Rhia Ramirez, each team shared the problems encountered in integrating a technology enabled health service delivery to target markets.   Engr. Rey emphasized practical intellectual property (IP) approaches in enabling disclosures, patent filings, licensing, non-disclosure & non-compete agreements. Ms. Maoi, on the other hand, talked of simultaneous technical & managerial development, looking for key opinion leaders, getting enough cash flow, and social return on investment. Dr. Chua, with his medical background and successful health technology-related ventures, shared his own personal entrepreneurial experience. Critical was  how, in the case of friends and families going into business together, contracts stipulating shares, exit strategies, etc should all be laid out on the table. Both the HIP TBC teams and the panel of experts were caught up in exchanges that extended well into lunch-time and private consultations followed soon thereafter.

It was a good day to wrap up AyalaTBI and Access Health’s 2012 TechBootCamp on Health.

An Afternoon Spent with Entrepreneurs

A Kape + Teknolohiya session was held at the conference room of UP-AyalaLand TechnoHub in Diliman, Quezon City last October 10, 2012 featuring Mr. Arnel Guiang.

Mr. Guiang, a Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur was more than willing to share his takes on how his companies have evolved over time and how he himself started with a degree in computer engineering to a full-blown businessman. He also shared his strategy from previously focusing on release of new products to what is now custom-development to tailor-fit the needs of his clients.

The event, which was targeted towards a select group, paved way for sharing between representatives of Juan Great Leap, Babypips, MemoKitchen, Systema Corp., Technominds Eascom, De La Salle University, PCIEERD-DOST, and DOST-UP Enterprise Center. Discussions on how to nurture kids’ entrepreneurial spirit to Java development and boot strapping for prototype releases were amongst the topics. The group was also able to voice their concerns towards software woes, market shifts, and angel investing. Indeed, a few hours with this group was worth all the knowledge gained.

For more on Arnel Guiang’s company, please feel free to check his site at http://www.guiang.com/ with each of his portfolios found at

http://flobattle.com, http://intelligentmouse.com, http://mtools.guiang.net/, http://smsblast.guiang.com/, http://vvmail.mobi/,

http://www.guiang.com/cybersecurity/.