OUTSTANDING technology business incubators (TBIs) in the country were recently feted in the first PH Startup Incubator Awards for their accomplishments in producing impactful programs and promising new entrepreneurial ventures.
During the awarding ceremony that was held last Friday via Zoom and Facebook Live, the tandem of UPSCALE Innovation Hub and partner-school University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman was declared the grand champion, bringing home P100,000 in cash for besting other 11 participants in the TBI 4.0 Program of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) and QBO Innovation Hub.
Elated by such recognition, they looked back at their humble beginnings. The UPSCALE Innovation Hub representatives said: “When our TBI was established, the goal was to support spinoff companies resulting from innovations generated by the Engineering R&D for Technology consortium, which was composed of eight Philippine universities with graduate programs in engineering. This continues to be part of our core mission and to date, we have helped launch nine spinoff companies with an additional six spinoff companies in the pipeline, on top of the other ventures that we have helped launch.”
Bagging the other major awards with a prize of P80,000 each, on the other hand, were the iDEYA-Mindanao State University Iligan Institute of Technology (People’s Choice for Best Incubator Team and Rising Star Incubator) and Animo Labs-De La Salle University (Extra Mile Incubator).
Meanwhile, the honorees for the Operational Excellence categories (with P50,000 cash prize each) were: Best Incubator Infrastructure, Center for Technopreneurship and Innovation-Batangas State University; Best Incubator Community Program, SIBOL Labs-University of the Philippines-Los Baños; Best Incubator Startup Program, AIM-Dado Banatao Incubator-Asian Institute of Management (AIM); Best Incubator Governance & Operations, UPSCALE Innovation Hub-UP-Diliman; and Best Incubator Growth & Sustainability, Animo Labs-De La Salle University.
“During a time when it can sometimes be hard to find hope and inspiration, the first-ever Philippine Startup Incubator Awards gives us that and more,” noted QBO Innovation Hub and IdeaSpace President Rene “Butch” Meily. “I hope we’ll be doing them on a regular basis from now on as it really recognizes the achievers in the Philippine start-up ecosystem.”
The event also marked the two-year celebration and culmination of the TBI 4.0 Program and the journey of its 12 DOST-backed TBI-participants, comprised of the six awardees, plus the Navigatu-Caraga State University, Palawan International TBI-Palawan State University, QBO Innovation Hub, CDO B.I.T.E.S-University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines, Cebu inIT-University of the Philippines Cebu, and Green TBI-Western Visayas State University.
“To us they’re all winners. They’ve gone through two years of very difficult work, trimming out worksheets, trying to make improvements in all their incubators, and working over time on all the different things,” he pointed out.
Breeding ground
WITH the advent of Industry 4.0 in the past recent years, it has become clear that there’s an urgent need for incubators to adapt to the changing times, thus, giving birth to the TBI 4.0 program in 2019. Funded by the DOST-PCIEERD and led by QBO Innovation Hub, it aims to develop world-class TBIs and incubator managers and increase the number of quality tech start-ups in the country.
This initiative encompassed four main strategies—Co-incubation, Internationalization, Co-development of Programs, and Leveling Up—all meant to further equip incubators with capabilities to develop Filipino tech start-ups.
“So the TBI 4.0 program is meant to help our TBIs grow, go out of their university-protected shell, and step up to become world-class facilities,” said Russel M. Pili, DOST-PCIEERD chief of Research Information and Technology Transfer Division.
In doing so, she cited that the DOST has supported 32 incubators and start-ups nationwide since 2016, with a total funding of P485 million. As a result of the program, she added that they have recorded P535 million in private investments received and registered P533 million accumulated start-up revenues.
“So from our investment as DOST, the effect on the assistance of our technology business incubators was even bigger than what we have actually put in,” Pili noted.
Bright prospects
THE Philippines is on the right path towards cultivating innovative and promising enterprises that could catalyze economic growth and uplift the lives of millions of Filipinos, according to QBO Innovation Hub Executive Director Katrina Rausa Chan.
In fact, she cited that the country now has around 500 to a thousand active start-ups (scalable, tech-driven disruptive companies) with under $400 million in total ecosystem value, based on the 2020 Startup Genome Survey.
“I hear sometimes that there’s no support for start-ups in the Philippines. I think that’s absolutely wrong. There are fantastic incubators all over the country where you can find that community, find that support, and experience this program,” she said.
Given the rise of new businesses and enablers amid the unprecedented times, she looks forward to the bullish prospects on the future of Filipino start-ups and incubators.
“I’m very excited about the developments in 2021 actually because it’s in the news like a lot of start-ups have been raising bigger and bigger fundraising rounds internationally as well. So I’m expecting an uptake actually and, obviously, once we get our unicorn, then that automatically kind of bumps us up in the billions category,” Chan stressed.
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