Thousands of entrepreneurs, tech buffs, students expected at TRC TechForum

MANILA, Philippines - More than 5,000 practicing and aspiring entrepreneurs, technology buffs and students from all over the country are expected to attend the Technology Partnering Forum (TechForum) 2010 slated at the Philippine Trade Training Center on Feb. 22-24.

Organized by the Technology Resource Center (TRC) to mark its 33rd anniversary this year, TechForum 2010 is the country’s premier event to gather people from various sectors in the common pursuit of technology-based and technology-driven business enterprises.

Expected to join the TechForum, according to TRC Director General Dennis Cunanan, are technology proponents, techno-preneurs, venture capitalists, seed funders, economic developers, and members of academic institutions’ engineering and science education communities, as well as public and private non-profit research institutes, among others.

“Technology commercialization experts and corporate licensing executives will also be around to lend their expertise to TechForum exhibitors and visitors at the event’s Business Matching Service,” Cunanan said.

Constituting the TechForum 2010 are a Technology Showcase, the Idea-to-Liquidity Technology Symposium and the student-oriented Innovation Opportunity Camp to be highlighted by the TekBiz Fora and the TeknoBiz Idea Challenge competition.

The Technology Showcase will feature original Filipino technologies in herbal medicine, food processing, manufacturing, water treatment and utilization, alternative energy, biotechnology, and green technology, among many others, all with strong market potential for commercial application, or can be used for various business purposes. 

On the other hand, the Idea-to-Liquidity Technology Symposium on Feb. 23 will cover topics that will help techno-preneurs understand all the various aspects and requirements of technology commercialization, and how to take advantage of the world’s fast expanding market for technology-based businesses. 

Concepts and issues in investing in technology-based enterprises will be discussed by business leader Cecilio Pedro, president of Lamoiyan Corp.; accelerating innovation by Science and Technology Undersecretary Fortunato de la Peña; and technology partnering opportunities in irradiation, mobile and nano technologies, among others, by a panel of experts. Financing tech-based business will be thoroughly discussed from the perspective of venture capitalist, angel investor and government and private financing institutions.

“Thus, the Technology Symposium will enable (the participants) to make informed decisions every step of the way to bringing their ‘commerciable’ technology concepts into actual and lucratively operating businesses,” Cunanan added.

Similarly, the whole-day Innovation Opportunity Camp for students on Feb. 24 will provide budding techno-preneurs with the guidelines in going through the technology commercialization process, the identification and evaluation of market opportunities for new technologies, the considerations on IPR (intellectual property rights), the proper development and actual presentation of business plans to potential investors, the sources of financing for start-ups, and the methodical way of pegging the prices of products and services.

“All in all, the TechForum will show how technology-based business ideas with great potential can form the basis for a high-growth commercial enterprise or be easily licensed to solve a specific market problem,” Cunanan said.

“Deal-focused and diverse, the TechForum will be the launching pad of emerging technologies by Filipinos and for Filipinos,” he added.

Interested participants may contact the TRC’s Technology Utilization and Commercialization Services or Technology Information and Livelihood Dissemination Groups at 727-6205 or visit the event website at www.trctechforum.com.