MSMEs benefit from gov't S&T, R&D technologies

The government’s science and technology (S&T) and research and development (R&D) technology commercialization programs continue to benefit the country’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME).

“There is a need to support these enterprises with science and technology-enabling tools to improve their productivity level and value generation,” said Rowen Gelonga, director of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Region 6 (Western Visayas).

Over the past few years, several MSME-enabling tools have been crafted by DOST and its agencies, benefiting a good number of small enterprises in the countryside.

For its part, the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR) has what he calls National Technology Commercialization Program (NTCP) to bring mature and viable technologies in agriculture and fisheries to the agriculture sector.

Gelonga, an engineer, discussed some of the major constraints facing MSMEs and how DOST is addressing them during the First Techno Gabay Summit held recently at the Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City.

About 900 R&D workers and stakeholders from all over the country attended the summit, which was organized by the Los Baños-based DOST-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) headed by executive director Patricio S. Faylon.

“The need for better technology is indeed a critical issue for SMEs,” said Gelonga, who was one of the summit’s speakers. “The country’s exporters are slow to diversify and innovate and have low value-added to their products.”

He cited three major MSME-enabling programs crafted by DOST, namely: Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SET-UP), Technological Innovation for Commercialization (TECHNICOM), and Techno Gabay Program (TGP).

SET-UP aims to enhance the competitiveness of MSMEs by providing them with technology-based interventions developed by DOST R&D institutes, the academe, and other members of the national R&D network.

SET-UP provides technical training, consultancy, funding, and advisory services. Most notable of these are the Innovation System Support Fund (ISSF), a special fund given as loans to SMEs for equipment upgrading; Manufacturing Productivity Extension (MPEI) program intended for those involved in the export market or enterprises with export potentials; Consultancy for Agricultural Productivity Enhancement (CAPE), which covers agriculture and aquaculture-based enterprises; and Cleaner Production Technology (CPT), which focuses on waste minimization.

These services are mostly spearheaded by DOST’s Technology Application and Promotion Institute (TAPI).

Technicom focuses more on the relatively advanced areas such as information and communications technology (ICT), materials science, and biotechnology, among other fields, and is more attuned to technology piloting.

PCARRD-initiated Techno Gabay involves the dissemination and commercialization of agriculture technologies. It has paved the way for the establishment of hundreds of Farmers’ Information and Technology Services (FITS) centers and the designation of Magsasaka-Siyentista (MS) or Farmer-Scientists across the country.

For its part, DA-BAR, headed by Director Nicomedes P. Eleazar, has been regularly organizing R&D forums and exhibits on agriculture and fisheries where researchers and scientists of the government and private sectors showcase their commerciable technologies.

Every year, too, BAR sponsors the National Research Symposium (NRS), which gathers the researchers of government R&D agencies, state colleges and universities, and the private sector (industry) to highlight the R&D breakthroughs they have achieved.