In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD) reinforced the vision of the University of the Philippines Business Administration Council (UP BAC) of facilitating innovative and sustainable initiatives for local businesses in the food and agriculture industry.
Along with UnionBank, the Council served as co-presenter and challenge partner for the event, “Philippine Innovations Challenge (PIC) 2021: From the Ground Up.” Meanwhile, Nestlé served as main challenge partner.
PIC 2021 served as a platform for 577 undergraduate Filipino students to innovate feasible, viable, and scalable business ideas that can boost the impact of local businesses in addressing national, societal, and environmental needs. Participants underwent three rounds covering the challenge reveal, qualification round, shortlisting of finalists, and the final pitching competition from December 2020 to March 2021.
A total of 33 public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) participated in the competition.
A two-day summit (Immersion and Ideation Day) was held last February 15 and 17 via Zoom. Through the summit, the PIC 2021 participants were able to: acquire a surface-level understanding of the current state of the country’s food and agriculture industry; learn the role of the youth in empowering farmers through sustainable innovation and agri-preneurship; discover best innovation practices of companies in coping with inevitable changes; and unravel their own capacity to ideate their own innovations.
Representatives from non-government organizations (NGOs) and private companies shared their experiences, insights, and expertise regarding the current challenge being faced by the food and agriculture industry. Teams who qualified in the final round were mentored by experts from the food and agriculture industry.
As part of PIC 2021’s culminating activity in March 2021, five out of twenty semi-finalist teams delivered their final innovation pitch in response to Nestlé’s advocacy in striving for impactful innovation and creating shared values among Nestlé’s coffee stakeholders and end-consumers.
Agreenovators team was declared the champion of the competition. The team proposed a system that aims to resolve occurring challenges in the coffee industry, particularly the lack of financial and technical support to coffee farmers and the gap in production and consumption information.
Following Agreenovators, teams IMC jk! and Mga Alagad ni Jadine ranked 1st and 2nd runners-up, respectively. IMC jk! focused on solutions to fill in the gap in information dissemination. On the other hand, Mga Alagad ni Jadine proposed the marketing of premium coffee featuring the different varieties/coffee blends from different regions in the Philippines.
All winning teams were from UP Diliman.
Special awards including UnionBank Innovation Award was conferred to Agreenovators and IMC jk! and People’s Choice Award was conferred to Team FTW from UP Mindanao. All winning teams received cash prizes and will be eligible to have an opportunity to build careers with the participating event partners.
DOST-PCAARRD’s strategic support to PIC 2021 is in line with the Council’s priorities and programs on technology transfer and promotion and efforts in engaging students in the agriculture, aquatic, and natural resources (AANR) sector. The Council has been providing augmentation funds to qualified professional/scientific and academic organizations that pursue activities in support of the Council’s advocacies, banner programs, and goals.