Mapua, key partners to pioneer university-based innovation hubs | Roderick Abad
MAPÚA University has entered into a tripartite agreement with Digital Pilipinas (DP) and the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) to establish an innovative education technology ecosystem, or edutech, through the mass adoption of emerging technologies.
The DOST-MAPUA Think and Tinker Laboratory-Technology Business Incubation (TBI) program aims to support new enterprises in developing products and services that utilize emerging technologies to promote innovation by providing needed resources and support—including the use of its facilities, mentoring and networking, as well as business matching to help them mature.
“We thank the DOST for the TBI program,” President Dr. Reynaldo Vea of Mapúa said during the recent virtual launch of this academe-industry-government partnership. “We hope to contribute to the eTechnology commercialization significantly, and we will strive to mobilize Mapúa’s talents: not only our students, but also our faculty members, researchers, graduate schools, and undergraduates to support the incubation initiative.”
According to PCIEERD Executive Director Dr. Enrico Paringit, Mapúa is among the universities supported by the DOST-PCIEERD under its Higher Education Institution Readiness for Innovation and Technopreneurship Program by creating the TBI.
DP Convenor Amor Maclang noted that the movement is proud to back them up to “pilot their university-based innovation hubs.” She said: “Digital tools are [changing] key elements of the education spectrum. Understanding how they are disrupting teaching and learning will give us the knowledge which tools to use and how best to implement them.”
Maclang, who is also the convenor of the World Fintech Festival, trustee and executive director at Fintech Philippines Association, as well as cofounder of GeiserMaclang Marketing Communications Inc., was designated as advisor to the Mapúa Technology Business Incubator (MTBI).
The parties agreed to develop collaborative Research and Development projects—including the creation of microcertification courses within the DP Academy in cooperation with the MTBI.
“In Digital Pilipinas, most professors will be practitioners in the industry. Teachers today take their own industry experience for granted, so what they teach is academic, not the real world,” pointed out Marco Yuchengco Santos of Mapúa University. “Working with DP and its partners, we can find a new venue for industry practitioners to teach what is happening in the workplace. The industry practitioners know what the market needs because they experience it themselves.”