Cheers and applause filled the Limketkai Atrium as the winners of the Department of Science and Technology’s Regional Invention Contest and Exhibit (Dost-RICE) were announced. The winning inventions have been crowd favorites throughout the three-day RICE showcase, which ran concurrently with the Regional Science and Technology Week (RSTW) celebration recently.
Clinching the top award in the Outstanding Utility Model category was the Dry Grain Picking Apparatus by Consorcio S. Namoco Jr., Juvy T. Cloma, Gerby C. Rabago and Reginal A. Surbano of the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP). The inventors received a prize of P30,000 for their brainchild.
Meanwhile, in the Likha or Creative Research category, the Low-Cost Wireless Remote Power Monitoring Device for Transformer Load Management claimed the top spot with a P25,000 bounty. Karl Martin A. Aldueso, Marven E. Jabian and Kister Genesis M. Jimenez, all from the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, were the brains behind the said device.
In the Sibol Student Creative Research category for college level, the top slot went to the Air Quality Monitoring and Filtering Device by Christian Grant O. Bunane, Mike Francis N. Caiña and Genard E. Delfin, with adviser Engr. Wencel Jean Carranza, also of the USTP. The invention won the college team P25,000.
Likewise, P25,000 went to the winning Sibol Student Creative Research for high-school level, the XYVO: All-natural Sore Throat Lozenges from Allium schoenoprasum (Sibujing) Stalk Extract by Verneece Charity F. Amlon, Kiarah S. Garma, Uriah Maxine D. Lumbo and Angela Rayne J. Torres, with adviser Honey Ritzel G. Barillo of the Iligan City East National High School.
These winning innovations will represent Northern Mindanao in next year’s National Invention Contest and Exhibit.
“We have a record-breaking number of participating inventions this year,” DOST-Northern Mindanao Regional Director Alfonso P. Alamban proclaimed at the awarding ceremony.
A total of 99 innovative entries from local inventors were preselected from numerous submissions, vying for top prizes in four different categories. This was the highest number of entries in the history of RICE in Northern Mindanao.
In her keynote message during the opening program, DOST Undersecretary for Regional Operations Brenda Nazareth-Manzano noted the recognition and utilization of local inventions.
“The outputs of our innovators merit our recognition,” Manzano said, “but more than that, these scientific outputs should be utilized by us, the greater public, to help answer our needs wherever suitable.”
She especially addressed the student participants, describing the budding scientists as “key to the development not just of our country as a whole but of each individual Filipino.”
DOST-Northern Mindanao has also assisted a record-breaking number of these inventions in applying for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) support from the Technology Application and Promotion Institute.
Some 34 inventions from this year’s contest have already been applied for IPR, plus five more in process, for a total of 39—the highest in the country.
Before the announcement of RICE winners, all the competing inventions were publicly displayed at the exhibit from September 19 to 21. Visitors of all ages flocked to the booths of these entries, where the inventors demonstrated how their creations worked.
Besides the RICE entries, other displays during the RSTW celebration included successful technologies and enterprises assisted by DOST-Northern Mindanao, as well as DOST-Northern Mindanao programs and services.
The RICE and NSTW culminated with Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña congratulating DOST-Northern Mindanao and Tapi, both of which spearheaded the invention contest.
Image credits: S&T Media Service