Innovation fellows from the various constituent units of the University of the Philippines (UP) delivered their pitch presentations at the University Innovation Fellowship (UIF) for Food and Sustainability culminating activity held in Iloilo City on Nov. 22.
Eight ventures delivered pitch presentations of their technologies to the Iloilo-based industry panelists at the said event held at the Richmonde Hotel attended by the UP Technology Transfer and Development Office (TTBDO) Executive Committee headed by Dr. Luis Sison.
The ventures that presented their technologies were:
- PteraFeeds (UP Cebu)
- Nice4Gut (UP Diliman)
- ALERT: DNA-based nanobiosensor for plant pathogen detection (UP Los Baños)
- BIOTECH Monascus Red (UP Los Baños)
- Protein Enriched Copra Meal (UP Los Baños)
- Limontene (UP Visayas)
- KaraMilk (UP Visayas)
- Katchamita (UP Visayas)
The ventures from UP – Limontene (liquid pectin from calamansi peels); KaraMilk (spray dried carabao’s milk), and Katchamita (mango fruit leather) – were presented by Dr. Concepcion Ponce, Dr. Jihan Alumbro, and Dr. Johannes Magpusao.
Dr. Gonzalo Serafica, UP System TTBDO Consultant, told the innovation fellows to “scale up our production once it works and there’s demand for the product.”
“Let’s [ensure] that before we even get ahead of our research, we are able to understand the markets – who’s going to buy them? Our customers. Talk to them,” he added.
Launched earlier in March, the UIF for Food and Sustainability program aims to increase the number of research and licensing agreements between the university and industry partners through the support of technology transfer activities of their respective institutions.
The program is brought to the innovators by the UP System TTBDO and UP Saliksik Laboratory (SikLab).
The said ventures were in the second and final phase of their pitch with the first one held last May at UP Baguio. The UIF culminating activity coincides with the opening day of the National Science, Technology, and Innovation Week (NSTW) 2023 held in Iloilo City from Nov. 22-26. (With sources from UPV TTBDO)
