The search for innovative business solutions for Palawan province is on.
The search was launched by the Palawan International Technology Business Incubator (Palawan ITBI) as its flagship competition called “Innopreneurs Creating Innovative Solutions to Advance the Nation” (I CAN) Business Competition.
Jackielyn Isip, Palawan ITBI operations manager said Tuesday the competition aims to encourage the creation of research-based and innovative business solutions that would help to solve the social and community problems and advance the economy both in local and regional.
“We will be accepting entries for the whole month, April 09 to May 15, after the deadline of submission; we will be choosing top 30 teams who will undergo comprehensive two-day boot camp and remote coaching,” she said.
Thirty teams will be selected for Phase 1 to undergo comprehensive boot camp and remote coaching sessions to guide the participants on the technical and business aspect of building their startups.
Phase 2 will have teams compete on the hackathon which they will have the independence to work on their prototypes.
Teams will be evaluated based on their progress and thirty teams will be cut down to Top 15 teams.
The remaining 15 teams will pitch their innovations during finals and only Top 5 will be selected to be automatically be incubated in PITBI and receive investment from industry partners and also includes mentorship opportunities.
The winner will receive a P200,000.00 cash prize each team from the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology, Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) to be used for development.
Isip said that those who will not win will receive mentorship support for their innovations and connections needed for the development of their innovations.
The project is in partnership with the Junior Chamber International (JCI)- Puerto Princesa Oil to encourage the culture of volunteerism to participants.
“Aside from that, since we are partnering with the Junior Chamber International, we want to cultivate the culture of volunteerism and culture of building the community,” she added.
Interested participants are encouraged to group themselves to a minimum of three members and a maximum of five, aging 15 to 55 years old and it is open for students, professionals, and faculty.
Logistics, tourism, and agriculture that could be of help to Palawan should be the focus of the projects, she added.
The registration is available online and may visit the http://bit.ly/ICANBusinessCompetition.
The I CAN Business Competition is organized by PITBI which is a DOST-PCIEERD funded TBI in collaboration with JCI- Puerto Princesa Oil, Palawan State University, Batangas State University – Center for Technopreneurship and Innovation and Department of Science and Technology-MIMAROPA.
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