USC’s Schools of Engineering and Business and Economics, in collaboration with PhilDev, held a soft opening and blessing (see photo below) for Carolinian BRIDGES on January 24, 2019 in Talamban Campus.

style=”font-family:Georgia,serif”>The University’s Technology Hub is dubbed BRIDGES, which stands for Building Research and Innovation for the Development and Growth of the Enterprise and Society, and is located on the 3rd floor of the Bunzel Building. The Tech Hub facility includes the D.Eng. Haven, a Maker Lab, an office and a conference room, cubicles as start-up incubators, and a 21st century learning room.

After the blessing, Fr. Dionisio M. Miranda, SVD and Engineering Dean Dr. Evelyn B. Taboada signed (see photo below) memoranda of understanding with industry partners including Autolive Cebu Safety Manufacturing, Fluor Daniel, GT Cosmetics Manufacturing, Knowles Electronics Phils., Lexmark Research and Development Corporation, Minebea Mitsumi, TrustE Web Services Technologies, Tsuneishi Technical Services (Phils.), and Zoog Technologies. These partnerships include provisions for on-the-job training for students, faculty immersion, collaborative research, curriculum development, and technology innovation projects.

A regional technopreneurship and innovation forum followed the memoranda signing. The forum provided information on government programs, technologies, and innovation within the region, as well as start-up stories. Bryan Ybañez, DOST-Region VII Research Specialist, spoke about the innovation programs of the government. This was followed by Maria Elena C. Arbon, Assistant Regional Director of the Department of Trade and Industry Region VII, who discussed start-up potential and opportunities in Cebu. Rufino Olay III, Vice President of Biz-Ops AI Center of Excellence, then shared breakthroughs in wave computing. The forum was capped by Fr. Aleksander Gaut, SVD, Ph.D., USC’s Vice President for Academic Affairs (see photo below), who talked about giving back to the community through innovative programs from the SVD perspective.

The afternoon was devoted to QUESTECH Limitless 2019, which was a business innovation pitch competition. There were 14 finalists who presented their pitches as a poster as well as in an oral presentation. Named the Best Pitcher was the B.S. Entrep. team of KUBU Cuisine, while Best Presentation went to Student Buddy, pitched by B.S. I.E. students. The Best Pitched Idea went to HabiTap, which was composed of Engineering students, while the Minebea Mitsumi Choice Award went to B.S. Ch.E. students for their Mangape idea (see photo below).

Judges for the competition were Kenneth Baylosis (CEO, Zoog Technologies), Leonora Salvane (COO, GT Cosmetics), Roy Alcano (GM, Autolive Cebu Safety Manufacturing), and Russ Neu (Director, Quest Ventures and Social Collider).

with reporting from Engr. Angelo Cabije, School of Engineering

Tags: Events, Engineering, Business and Economics