The Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD) and the Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII) jointly conducted the two-day “Iran-Philippines International Virtual Symposium on Agricultural Nanotechnology” via Zoom and Facebook Live.
The symposium aimed to assess and expand the Iran-Philippines cooperation in agricultural nanotechnology and provide a platform to introduce Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and knowledge-based companies in the field to potential investors. It provided a venue for resource speakers from Iran and the Philippines to exchange information and explore the role of public and private sectors in the agricultural nanotechnology fields.
Live viewers, totaling 500 individuals, from Philippines and Iran joined via Zoom and Facebook Live on the first day and 400 live viewers joined on the second day reaching a total of 7,900 people on Facebook.
Plenary sessions included nanotechnology applications: in crop protection, sustainable crop management, in food sciences and water science, and nanobiosensor applications in agriculture. All speakers answered the live questions from online viewers in two open fora per plenary session.
Participants from Iran were from the Iran Nanotechnology Innovation Council (INIC) as well as the Economic Cooperation Organization-Agricultural Biotechnology Network (ECO-ABN).Experts from the Philippines with ongoing and completed R&D programs and projects on agricultural nanotechnology took part as participant- speakers. R&D programs and projects presented were mostly funded and monitored by DOST, DOST-PCAARRD, and DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD).
The symposium is expected to encourage collaborative R&D undertakings on agricultural nanotechnology and other joint activities such as benchmarking visits to Iran and capacity building.(Sarah Hazel Maranan-Balbieran, DOST-PCAARRD S&T Media Services).