My view on TECH PLAN DEMO DAY in the PHILIPPINES

I, Tadashi Tanimoto, was visiting Philippines to visit local factories and to attend the very first TECH PLAN DEMO DAY in the PHILIPPINES organized by Leave a Nest group.

Finalists shared various social challenges faced in the Philippines and how they propose to solve these challenges by using Science and Technology. Point of view was unique and I was intrigued by the level of thoughts and energy put into each presentation.

Grand winner of the first TECH PLAN DEMO DAY in the PHILIPPINES was awarded to Team Ube-Tech who addressed disposal of purple yam due to lack of dark pigmentation. This team came up with technology to treat these light pigmented purple yam to dry to create final product in powder form. This technology can be applied to other food materials to solve unnecessary disposal of crops, according to local judges, this technology has bigger impact on the country than I imagined which is a very good example of how my ‘common sense’ is not good enough to think about global issues.

Some other teams which caught my attention was Myo Surgical who strive to support endoscopic surgeons by measuring and analyzing muscle fatigue and giving feedback so that surgeons can train more efficiently and avoid fatal mistake . Smart Lab is another team which I will keep my eye on. They are treating Kapok with nano particles to remove heavy metals from polluted water to improve water quality.

Awards for winners and corporate awards can be up to 88,000 pesos. Considering fresh university graduates' monthly salary in the Philippines may be around 10,000 pesos this is about 9 months worth of salary, so you can imagine the impact of receiving awards.

Seeing the awardee's stunned reaction for receiving monetary award or tickets to Singapore to observe TECH PLAN DEMO DAY in the PHILIPPINES was heart warming. Simultaneously, from investor’s point of view, this market presents enormous opportunity although, I can still identify some social challenges which exist in the Philippines (heavy traffic jam to name one).

Original text was written by Mr. Tadashi Tanimoto in Japanese and translated by Kihoko Tokue

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