By Josiah Eleazer V. Antonio
PHILIPPiNEXT OPENING CEREMONY (from left to right) Anil Wali, Chief Executive Officer at BioCyTiH Foundation, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, P. Abdul Salam, Dean of the School of Environment, Resources, and Development, Asian Institute of Technology -Thailand, Engr. Mark Kennedy Bantugon, CEO & Founder of Pili AdheSeal Inc., Preeti Soni, Head of APCTT-UNESCAP; Ambrosio Brian Enciso III, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of the United Nations & International Organizations DFA; Hon. Renato Solidum, DOST Secretary; Atty. Marion Ivy Decena, CESO III, DOST-TAPI Director, Hesham Mohammed, Political, Economic & Media Officer at the UAE Embassy-Manila, and Mark Anthony C. Bigayan, Division Chief of Technology Information and Promotion Division (TIPD) on July 14 at Okada, Manila, Philippines.
Manila, Philippines — The Department of Science and Technology - Technology Application and Promotion Institute (DOST-TAPI) hosted its inaugural technology convention titled “PHILIPPiNEXT” from July 14-16, 2025, at Okada, Manila.
With the theme “Commercialization of Intellectual Property Assets,” the launch of Philippines' International Exposition of Technologies (PHILIPPiNEXT), the convention aims to make the Philippines a destination for homegrown and international innovators as it brings together inventors, innovators, policymakers, and investors to share insights, explore opportunities, and build partnerships. This event is organized by DOST-TAPI in collaboration with the Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT) of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
“Today, ideas and technologies from across the country and around the world have come together to form an innovation melting pot, and we gather for this celebration of opportunity, collaboration, and progress,” DOST-TAPI Director Atty. Marion Ivy Decena said in her speech.
In its first convention, delegates from India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore were present for the three-day event showcasing technologies on energy, climate, digital, and environment, among others.
“We highlight Filipino-developed technologies that have the power to create an impact in industries, reach markets, and benefit communities, and pave the way for international collaboration, benchmarking, and commercialization,” Decena said.
“In the next few days, we look forward to meaningful conversations that connect ideas with action, research with application, and talent with investment. Through collaboration and dialogue, we will continue to strengthen the global innovation ecosystem and prepare our local technologies for the global stage,” she added.
RESOLVING ISSUES STEP-BY-STEP THROUGH TECH
The “PHILIPPiNEXT” is filled with innovative technologies hoping to resolve issues in different aspects of life, may it be health, food, disasters, among others. DOST-TAPI held “What’s NEXT?,” the PHILIPPiNEXT’s media launch, highlighting some of the scores of innovations in the event, with four from the Philippines and one from Singapore. The inventors discussed how they collaborated with the agency, boosting their technology to the next level.
Among them is the Filipina inventor, Cristina Macaraig, of Alerto PH, an app that hopes to give on-the-spot signals during disasters such as fires and respond to them quickly. With the help of DOST-TAPI, they are now in the process of reaching out to local government units (LGUs) and local responders to hopefully streamline their response during fires.
“With what we are building, it involves life. We cannot just deploy it; we need tests. If our LGUs and local responders use this technology, how would they manage this system? We’re developing a paper which will be the guidelines to use this technology,” Macaraig told reporters.
Justin Zhang of Singapore narrated how DOST-TAPI reached out to help the country resolve the issues of floods with their FloodFinder app, a testament to how neighboring countries can be of help to each other.
“They see our technology’s relevance to our community here, and they invited us to come here and they gave us the opportunity to share this innovation with the local community,” Zhang told reporters.
With the exhibit, DOST Sec. Renato U. Solidum Jr. stressed how the local and international innovators can exchange ideas and potentially help each other reach their potentials and goals.
“Essentially, this is part of our innovation ecosystem where we wanted to promote the different innovations from the Philippines and expose them not only to potential investors or users within the country but also to show them to our international partners,” Solidum said in an interview.
“And to bring in international innovators would also be a very good learning for us, especially, there can be varied innovations, products, and processes that can be showcased,” he added.
BUILDING FOR TOMORROW
OPENING OF PHILIPPiNEXT EXHIBITS (from left to right) Engr. Mark Kennedy Bantugon, CEO & Founder of Pili AdheSeal Inc.; Atty. Marion Ivy Decena, CESO III, DOST-TAPI Director; Hon. Renato Solidum, DOST Secretary; Preeti Soni, Head of APCTT-UNESCAP; P. Abdul Salam, Dean of the School of Environment, Resources, and Development, Asian Institute of Technology -Thailand; and Ambrosio Brian Enciso III, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of the United Nations & International Organizations DFA on July 14 at Okada, Manila, Philippines.
For Solidum, there is potential in the technologies of Filipinos, but there is a lack of harnessing that potential.
“We need to showcase that we have lots of innovators in the Philippines and there are many inventions that have intellectual property rights already, and what is needed is for them to have a break to be introduced to the public and to commercialize,” the science and technology chief said.
“But sometimes in some of our innovators, they don’t have an idea of the value of their innovation or an idea of other usage of their innovation,” he added.
With this inaugural exhibition, Solidum aims to have a constant gathering among Filipino and international innovators in various fields of expertise.
“We need to follow through with this initial exhibition to have it more regular as communication and making sure that people understand the value of science, technology, and innovation, cannot be done in one exhibit,” Solidum said.
“So, we need to continue this kind of exhibition, which is why this kind of exhibition will be followed. We have started the exhibition of technologies on disaster and risk reduction, the Handa Pilipinas DRRM campaign,” he added.
“I plan to develop another exhibition where the innovations focus on the environment, and another exhibition on educational technologies. This can be on the way we teach, but also making our classrooms resilient to disaster, but more importantly, cooler because of the climate change getting warmer, cooler, and more energy efficient.”
Decena hopes that they can help the innovators convene biannually, “showcasing Philippine innovations globally and establishing an international conference on technologies and innovations.
The event also featured conference sessions focused on intellectual property rights, which along with its implementation, can empower countries to build their own innovations, followed by an international dialogue among the delegates from India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines on how they can strengthen their support in building their technologies.
Solidum urged the participants to maximize their time to build connections and collaborate with other countries to build a better world.
“Through these relevant topics, I encourage everyone to participate in the roundtable discussions and to leverage the power of cross-border collaborations. Innovation is better applied if we all work together with a collaborative framework. Collaboration has to have a shared mission and goal,” Solidum said.
“We must diligently push for better mechanisms and policies to protect and propel our IPs to broader markets as we continue to lobby for more proactive climate initiatives for our common home. Let us actively support a more inclusive and dynamic innovation ecosystem.”
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