SLU Baguio wins Philippines' Best Technology Startup

Photo Courtesy || DICT

Cordillera - Team Victorem, a technology startup from the Saint Louis University in Baguio City was declared as the over all champion of this year's Philippine Startup Challenge 5 (PSC5) organized by the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) on Friday.

The technology startup is a rental platform that serves as a channel for users who want to post an item for rent or to those people looking for things to rent. It can be accessed through the browsers and mobile devices. The team said the application is "safe, secured, and convenient" for renters and item owners to transact payments. 

This year's Philippine Startup Challenge 5 was hosted by Iloilo City at the Grand Xing Hotel. There were 15 teams from various colleges and universities all over the country who had pitched and defended their startups in front of business owners and judges. 

According to DICT Undersecretary Monchito B. Ibrahim, all the startup participants went through rigorous screening and training. 

DICT received 242 entries but only 30 made it to the semifinals and only 15 were selected by technology and business startups to enter the national competition.

"We're very, very glad to see all the ideas that they have come up with and that's actually making me believe that the future of the Philippines is in good hands," Ibrahim said.

Being the champion, Team Victorem will become part of Huawei's Seeds of the Future Program, a two-week college undergraduate study program in China to equip them with ICT-based skills and knowledge. They will also automatically qualify for the 2019 IdeasSpaceBootcamp. 

The team together with other top 5 winners will also receive Php200,000 from the Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) to help them in the product prototype development. 

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UC and SLU among top 15 in the 5th Philippine Startup Challenge by DICT

Cordillera - Two of Cordillera's top universities are among the 15 finalists of the 5th Philippine Startup Challenge by the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT).

The University of the Cordilleras (UC) and Saint Louis University in Baguio city together with other finalists coming from different universities across the country were named by the DICT to compete in the final round on April 5, 2019 at the Grand Xing Hotel in Iloilo City.

The top 15 finalists out of the 30 semifinalists were handpicked by the selection committee made up of tech and business startup leaders.

These 15 universities have the most promising startup ideas from their students and they will be competing in the final round next month.

According to the DICT, the finalists were chosen based on customer validation (40%), execution and design (30%) and business model validation (30%).

Qualifying startup ideas for this year range from off-the grid charging device solution to web-based application for donations.

The PSC5 Top five Winners will receive Php200,000.00 each from the Department of Science and Technology's Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) to assist the teams in product prototype development.

The PSCC5 National Winner will also become part of Huawie's Seeds of the Future Program, a two-week college undergraduate study program to be held in China that shall equip them with ICT-based skills and knowledge. They also automatically qualify for the 2019 IdeaSpaceBootcamp.

The University of the Cordilleras Team Y.A.N.A's startup idea is called Proximap, an augmented reality advertising and navigation mobile application. It uses Geolocation as well as voice and image recognition.

Meanwhile Qantina from Team Magis of Saint Louis University is a platform that lets college students, officer workers or health buff to order and have meals delivered from home-cooks, aspiring chefs or restaurants around them.

The other startup from SLU is called Qrent developed by Team Victorem. It is a web-based and mobile platform that is designed for safe, secured, and convenient rental transaction between renter and item owners.

source || DICT

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